Save Frogs with Virtual Dissection

Emantras Interactive Technologies has come out with a new virtual frog dissection application (now with more organs) for the Apple iPhone and iPad. Virtual dissection is an important step towards creating a kinder classroom environment.

When I was in the seventh grade, I remember clicking away at the image of a dead frog on my computer as my peers sliced and diced real dead frogs around me. My science teacher was not required by law to provide me with a humane alternative, and I was lucky that he was sensitive to my opposition to dissection. There is no federal law that protects students from being penalized if they choose not to dissect animals, and only a few states have Choice-in-Dissection laws to protect students opposed to dissection.

Currently, only ten states have enacted such Choice-in-Dissection laws. Of these ten states, six require the student's parent sign on with the student's objection to dissection. Students often choose not to dissect out of concern for animals or for the environment, objections that their parents may not share.

Frogs are the most commonly dissected animal, and millions of frogs are captured from the wild every year for use in classrooms. Frog population decline is due in part the widespread use of frogs in classroom dissection.

There are many humane alternatives to dissection, and it may soon become an outdated method of teaching. Studies have found that students who learned biology through dissection alternatives scored higher on tests than students who learned from  traditional dissection. A virtual dissection can be done multiple times, at a student's own pace, whereas a dissection of an animal can be done only once.

As virtual dissection technology continues to advances and amphibian populations continue to decline, the pedagogy behind dissection weakens. Students should not be taught about conservation in the same class that they are taught to butcher wildlife. Students who choose not to dissect should be protected by the law; everyone should have the right to learn in a humane and inclusive classroom.

Photo Credit: Dan Zen