According to a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal The American Biology Teacher, non-animal teacher methods are at least as effective as animal dissections and may be more effective.
As noted by the study’s abstract, animal dissection is practiced to varying degrees around the world and is particularly prevalent in North America throughout all levels of education. However, “a growing number of studies suggest that non-animal teaching methods (NAMs) (e.g., virtual anatomy tools and three-dimensional models) are better for achieving learning goals compared to dissection.”
With this in mind, researchers for this new study “conducted a systematic review of studies published between 2005 and 2020 that evaluated the pedagogical value of NAMs versus animal dissection.” Their results from 20 published studies “show that in 95% of the studies (19/20) students at all education levels (secondary, postsecondary, and medical school) performed at least as well—and in most of those studies better (14/19)—when they used NAMs compared to animal dissection.”
