Bioscience Briefing
For info about biomedical funding, animal research and other bioscience issues, click here.
Legislation Watch
So-called "Pet Safety Bills" don't protect pets but they do pose a threat to medical research. More information
Science Policy Announcements
For the latest news from the APS Science Policy click here.
Resource Book Now Available
Click here for more info on The APS Resource Book for the Design of Animal Exercise Protocols.
APS Position Statements
On Animals in Teaching
Inanimate Options
Computer simulations, physical models, virtual reality, and other technological innovations are promising in terms of their ability to impart knowledge and provide skills training.Instructors should periodically review new developments in this rapidly changing area, and consider how these materials can be used to meet the educational goals of their course.
Simulations: Mathematical modeling of physiological systems provides a powerful tool for both teaching and for research.A very basic algorithm of the cardiovascular system allows students to interact and observe the consequences of changing variables such as peripheral resistance or circulating blood volume. Such a model can grow in complexity as our understanding of the interaction between physiological processes increases.Another advantage of simulations is their independence from time. These experiments can be reset and re-run, allowing multiple interventions in a limited period. Improvements in the graphical outputs of these models makes them more attractive to learners, and evaluation of select learning outcomes confirms that simulations can provide a useful educational experience.Simulations and models, however, are by their nature approximations of a living system.The complexity and unpredictability of living systems is difficult to capture, even in the most complex simulation (video games vs. reality).
Physical models: Physical models provide an opportunity for hands-on exploration. Models may be designed to allow learners to explore underlying principles, such as the relationships between flow, resistance and a pressure gradient.Often, experimental study of these relationships cannot be easily achieved in living systems.Models such as manikins are increasing in complexity, and are useful for skills training, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).The weakness of models is similar to that for simulations.At best, models are an approximation of a living system.
Preserved specimen tissue: Preserved tissues provide an opportunity for learners to explore structural relationships.Preserved specimens are anatomically correct, and if multiple samples are used, can be used to illustrate biological variation.For physiology, preserved tissues are static, and do not allow study of time-dependent events.
Animate Options
Instruction involving living organisms make a unique contribution to life sciences education by providing students with a direct understanding of how living systems work. This produces insights that are qualitatively different from those that can be obtained by reading a textbook, watching a video, using a computer, or experimenting with inanimate models.
Students in the life sciences should be given appropriate opportunities to work directly with living systems, but educators in the life sciences should give careful consideration as to whether this mode of instruction is appropriate for their students.Issues that should be taken into account should include the educational objectives of a specific course within the broader program of study; the knowledge base, prior experience, and maturity of the students; and whether humane handling of the animals and an appropriate instructional environment for the students can be ensured.
Live tissue: Laboratory experiments can utilize living tissue rather than an intact organism.For example, the chicken egg membrane and the red blood cell provide an excellent model for study of osmosis and membrane transport.
Animal Laboratories—Humans: Students in the life sciences often pursue careers in health and medical professions, and are most interested in human physiology.A number of commercial companies provide equipment and sample experiments where students serve as the laboratory subject.These non-invasive experiments use advances in technology to measure variables that previously were only available through invasive approaches.In addition to the regulations involving other animals, instructors must be sure that human subject laboratories comply with extensive regulatory guidelines, which in the USA now include Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy requirements.
Animal Laboratories—Other Mammals: Animal laboratories allow students to perform observational and/or invasive study of living systems.Animal laboratories provide experiential opportunities that cannot be obtained in other settings, such as observing cardiac contraction and ventricular fibrillation.Animal experiments involve a significant emotional experience that enhances learning for many students. Such experiments illustrate intrinsic variability and unpredictability, and facilitate discussions of heterogeneity and functional variability.As with human experiments, instructors opting to use animal experiments must ensure compliance with IACUC and other regulations.
Animal Laboratories—Other Vertebrates: The educational goal of the laboratory is sometimes best accomplished by selecting non-mammalian, experimental subjects such as frogs or fish. The diversity of biological systems provides opportunities for students to gain an appreciation of the comparative anatomy and physiology of a variety of living systems while allowing the instructor to select from animal models that fit the lesson objectives, available equipment and lesson time, and costs. As above, instructors must ensure compliance with IACUC and other regulations, where applicable.
Animal Laboratories—Invertebrates: Invertebrates exhibit a huge diversity in physiological processes that should be considered when designing student laboratories.Invertebrates provide excellent opportunities for student laboratories examining, for example, thermoregulation or the transmission of genetic traits.Although invertebrates are not covered by the Animal Welfare Act Regulations or the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, the use of any living system must follow ethical guidelines.
Animal Use Ethics
The use of animals in student laboratories provides an opportunity to open a discussion of the ethics of animal use in our society.It is important to provide the opportunity for students to consider their attitudes toward the use of animals in research, for clothing, for food, and as pets. These are important ethical issues. This discussion also provides an opportunity to draw a clear distinction between animal welfare and animal rights.
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