Dissection reconsidered: a reaction to de Villiers and Monk’s ‘The first cut is the deepest’

Abstract

Educators need to think about pedagogical as well as ethical issues when asking if dissection has a role in contemporary K–12 science education. I consider some arguments for and against dissection as a way to teach students the biological concepts of form and function.

Keywords:

• anatomy
• biology
• dissection
• laboratory animals
• laboratory procedures
• science instruction

Notes

1. It is important to remember that these organizations and the reforms that they are suggesting are framed in the context of science education in the US. While a number of other countries have called for similar reforms in their own educational system, the scientific literacy that I am referring to is the scientific literacy called for in the AAAS and NRC documents.