PETA Talks Prompt New Policy—Group to Donate More Sophisticated Teaching Tools, Including Computers, Software
For Immediate Release:
February 12, 2013
Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382
Baltimore — When students in Baltimore City Public Schools learn anatomy this school year, they won't risk a failing grade for refusing to cut into a cat or a frog.
Following discussions with PETA, the school district has adopted a progressive dissection-choice policy that will allow students to use modern teaching methods, such as computer software, instead of animals. Baltimore City Public Schools now joins every other district in Maryland and neighboring Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., which have such guidelines already in place.
PETA has also donated computers and software to the district through the group's national educational grants program so that teachers have access to state-of-the-art virtual dissection equipment, which has been shown to teach anatomy better than old-fashioned animal dissection. PETA and virtual-dissection software leader Digital Frog International will also be offering training sessions for teachers in April.
"Students no longer have to harden their hearts to study biology," says PETA Senior Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "Now, students in Baltimore City Public Schools can choose the most sophisticated anatomy lesson available, and no one will get hurt."
The millions of animals who are still used in school dissection come from biological supply houses, which breed some animals and obtain others from animal shelters or capture them in the wild. Comparative studies show that non-animal teaching methods, such as interactive computer programs, are more effective for teaching biology than animal dissection. These programs also save time and money and increase student confidence and satisfaction. The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the National Association of Biology Teachers, and the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society (HAPS) all endorse student dissection-choice policies. HAPS and the NSTA also approve the use of modern non-animal methods as full replacements for animal dissection.
For more information, please visitPETA.org/Dissection.