The Awareness of Secondary Teachers and Students toward Animal Dissection in Biology Class

동물 해부실험에 대한 중학교 교사와 학생들의 인식

The ethical issue is one of the most important themes in both science and environmental education. Especially related to the right of other species, animal dissection has been brought about two contradictory attitudes. In spring 1996, a survey was conducted to assess the status of animal dissection in secondary schools and the awareness of 94 biology teachers and 422 secondary students toward animal dissection. And the meaning of animal dissection in biology class was discussed in terms of environmental education. The findings were as follows: First, most of students(96.6%) had participated once or twice to animal dissection experiments(eg. fish, frog, shellfish, cuttlefish and chicken). And about half of teachers (57.4$\sim$64.9%) and some students(41.9%) felt ethical conflict in animal dissection. Second, many teachers(81.0%) and students(87.1%) thought that animal dissection was effective method to achieve the goal of biology education, but they needed more consideration on the respect for life in animal dissection experiment. Third, many teachers(88.3%) had students, who objected to animal dissection, participate obligatorily or passively. Fourth, teachers and students thought that audio-visual media such as video(teachers 63.5%, students 39.7%), computer simulations(teachers 31.7%, students 28.1%) and models(teachers 22.2%, students 24.1%) could be effective as alternatives. These findings suggest that animal dissection experiment, although it is needed to achieve the goal of biology education, requires careful consideration on the rights of animal and the respect for life, and alternatives for students who object to animal dissection in biology class.