Re‐examining the practice of dissection: What does it teach?

Abstract

Abstract Contemporary science standards stress the importance of highlighting inquiry in the science classroom as one way of learning key concepts. One critical question that needs to be addressed for a range of instructional practices is how opportunities to learn are conceptualized so that students can engage and learn the critical ideas and practices necessary to become scientifically literate. Here I position the ethically‐contested practice of dissection as one instructional practice that needs to be examined in order to see if the learning environment that is created when teachers and students engage in dissection is one that allows students to practice a meaningful science. I argue that the pedagogical value in dissection may not be worth the ethical compromises that surround it. Keywords: biology educationdissectionlearning environmentsopportunity to learnscience education Acknowledgements This research reported here was funded by National Science Foundation grants to the 'Investigating and Questioning our World through Science and Technology' (IQWST) project through grant ESI‐0101780 to the University of Michigan and grant ESI‐0439493 to Northwestern University. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of the NSF. For additional information about IQWST curricula and research, see http://www.hi‐ce.org/iqwst. Notes 1. See http://www.nsta.org/main/forum/showthread.php?t=1364, accessed 5 April 2007. 2. The range of possibilities associated with virtual dissection also allows students to learn the concepts that previously were taught through the use of preserved specimens in other ways. These include the use of simulations that allow students to explore the function of body parts through computers, physical models, and videos (Kinzie et al. 1993 Kinzie, M. B., Strauss, R. and Foss, J. 1993. The effects of an interactive dissection simulation on the performance and achievement of high school biology students. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 30(8): 989–1000. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], Akpan and Andre 1999 Akpan, J. P. and Andre, T. 1999. The effect of a prior dissection simulation on middle school students' dissection performance and understanding of the anatomy and morphology of the frog. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 8(2): 107–121. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], de Villiers and Monk 2005 de Villiers, R. and Monk, M. 2005. The first cut is the deepest: reflections on the state of animal dissection in biology education. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 37(5): 583–600. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). However, the majority of the studies that have been conducted comparing real to virtual dissections have focused on a comparison of the content learning and not on the engagement or learning of a process. 3. Ms Masters taught in a school located in a rural town located approximately 30 miles from a large research university in the US Midwest. She had more than 10 years of experience but this was her first time teaching the unit. a. Mr Williams taught in a K–8 magnet school located in a large Midwestern city. He was an experienced teacher but was teaching the unit for the first time. b. Ms Patton taught in a suburban school located in a small city in a southern US state. She was teaching the unit for the first time. She was an experienced teacher (7 years) but was new to teaching at the middle‐school level. Her previous teaching experiences were at the high school level. She was also teaching the unit for the first time. 4. I judged these three classrooms as typical based on my experiences of observing biology instruction in a range of classrooms. The unit, and 8‐week project based science unit entitled 'What will survive?' (Tzou et al. 2003 Tzou, C., Reiser, B. J., Finn, L., Hug, B., Dodeck, J. and Bruozas, M. . Teaching about ecosystems in a project‐based curriculum: promises and challenges. Paper presented at. the National Association for Research on Science Teaching. Philadelphia, PA. [Google Scholar]), was developed as part of the 'Investigating and Questioning our World through Science and Technology' instructional materials development project (NSF‐ESI‐0439352). 5. A chart organized in three columns: what do you know, what do you want to know and what have you learned.