| Description |
Throughout the undergraduate experience, biology students are introduced to hundreds of experiments, theories, and principles, many of which are rooted in animal experimentation. However, in required and information-heavy biology courses, the erasure of animals from the scientific story-which represents data as value- and contextfree- leads students to be largely unaware of the crucial role played by animals in research, the importance of selecting the "right" animal for a particular research setting, and the ethical conundrums that are faced by scientists who use animal bodies. To uncover this gap and suggest ways to bridge it, I created: a pre-survey to understand biology students' current beliefs about animals; a presentation with information about animal history, ethics, and uses, aimed at confronting students with commonly overlooked aspects of animal research and history; and a post-survey to gauge whether providing students with a more in-depth education about animal research did help them shift their perspective to viewing animals as important scientific and cultural individuals. Several introductory and upper-level biology classes participated. The surveys revealed that many students recognized some of the topics of animal experimentation and ethics from prior exposure, however, they also appreciated the specific examples and different perspectives that are not commonly shared in biology classes. Their responses suggested that the presentation did cause them to reassess their opinions of animals and animal experimentation to some extent. Many of the responses support the idea of productive struggle. On one question, 27% of the students implied they felt greater conflict or indecision about the idea of animal experimentation and ethics after viewing the presentation. Productive struggle with scientifically significant subjects gets students to engage with complex topics and more deeply understand their implications. Providing students with these experiences around animal research may improve the quality of future research, carried out by today's undergraduate students. |
