Mississauga Secondary School Welcomes Modern Teaching Tools That Make Compassion a Part of Science Classes
For Immediate Release:
November 21, 2012
Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382
Mississauga, Ontario -- Mississauga Secondary School's biology classes are going high-tech, and it's thanks in part to PETA. The animal rights group has donated software that will help the school replace frog dissection with a state-of-the-art, all-virtual dissection laboratory that uses computer software to teach students.
PETA—through its international educational grants program—has donated a schoolwide license for the popular Digital Frog 2.5 software, which is produced by Digital Frog International, based in Puslinch, Ontario. Interactive software such as The Digital Frog 2.5—which allows students to "cut" using a digital scalpel and, unlike animals killed for dissection, can be used over and over—has been shown to teach anatomy better than animal dissection.
"PETA's donation will help Mississauga Secondary School take the lead in teaching biology with humane, modern methods," says PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "Countless frogs, pigs, cats, and other animals are still killed for dissection at less progressive schools, even though non-animal methods for teaching biology are far superior."
The millions of animals who are used in school dissection come from biological supply houses, which breed some animals and obtain others from animal shelters or the wild. Comparative studies have repeatedly shown that non-animal teaching methods, such as interactive computer programs, are more effective at teaching biology than crude animal-based methods. These programs also save time and money and increase student confidence and satisfaction. The National Science Teachers Association endorses the use of modern non-animal methods as replacements for animal dissection.
For more information, please visit PETA.org/Dissection.