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

Hug, Barbara

doi:10.1080/00220270500061182

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Overall there is a dearth of systematic analytical examination of elementary students' encounters with death and dying in science classrooms. The limited literature currently available suggests that, unlike older biology students who are commonly provided with firsthand and hands‐on experiences with death such as animal dissections (Dev & Walker, ; De Villiers & Monk, ; Franklin, Peat, & Lewis, ; Holstermann, Grube, & Bögeholz, ; Hug, , ; Weinstein & Broda, ), elementary pupils rarely experience such direct encounters. Indeed, when such encounters do happen at the lower‐grade levels, they are often accidental (e.g., the unexpected passing of a pet), hands‐off, and indirect (e.g., limited to discussion and symbolic representations of death such as drawings, photos, texts).…”

Section: Encountering Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

Death discussion in science read‐alouds: Cognitive, sociolinguistic, and moral processes

et al. 2013

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Little research has been conducted on how to address the complex topic of death when teaching science to children. The present paper addresses this issue by examining how three elementary teachers discuss the death of wild animals during science read‐aloud sessions. Our findings reveal the variety of ways in which nonhuman death can be cognitively, sociolinguistically and morally organized in such contexts. In terms of cognition, animal death was conceptualized metaphorically in terms of linear or cyclic motion (SOURCE‐PATH‐GOAL and CYCLE image schemas). Sociolinguistically, animal death was sometimes approached as the product of an agent's action (e.g., a predator) and at other times as an agentless outcome (e.g., a biological event that simply befell upon living creatures). Lastly, natural death was presented as morally “good” (i.e., acceptable biological outcomes of life in the wild), whereas pollution‐related death was organized as unnatural and morally “bad” (i.e., unacceptable loss of natural life whose occurrence students should critically question). This study highlights the centrality of metaphorical structuring to nonhuman death discussions in the science read‐alouds investigated and the possible pedagogical implications of favoring the approaches described. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 51: 117–146, 2014

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Section: Encountering Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

Death discussion in science read‐alouds: Cognitive, sociolinguistic, and moral processes

et al. 2013

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“…Understanding how these fish survive and reproduce generates ideas students use to develop solutions to the overarching challenge posed to them-how can the sea lamprey be removed from the Great Lakes? I (Hug 2005) argued in my earlier paper that dissection might be justified if it could be connected to a larger, contextualized learning goal. In the lessons I examined, the students were intended to examine the internal and external structures of the two fish with specific learning goals in mind:…”

Section: Dissection In the Middle-school Classroommentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In an earlier exchange, I (Hug 2005) raised a question that led to the study I present here. There, adopting an insight of Menck (2000), I suggested that we see dissection as a form of symbolic participation by students in 'science', and asked 'What is the meaning of such a symbolic representation of science in the light of today's science?…”

mentioning

confidence: 95%

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

Hug¹

2008

Journal of Curriculum Studies

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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.Dissection: The methodical cutting up of an animal or a plant, for the purpose of displaying its internal structure (Oxford English Dictionary).

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“…Cadaver dissection was a traditional part of biology education for a long period of time although its status in school lessons has changed (De Villiers & Monk, 2005). Several ethical issues concerning the killing of animals for educational purposes (e.g., Oakley, 2009Oakley, , 2012 along with the possibilities of modern technology (Torres et al, 2014) have led to a critical re-evaluation of traditional dissection (Texley, 1992;Hug, 2005Hug, , 2008Milano, 2010). As a result, the cadaveric dissection method is decreasing primarily due to time and money constraints (Raftery, 2006;Bergman et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of 3d Plastic Models of Animals and Cadaveric Dissection on Students’ Perceptions of the Internal Organs of Animals

Fančovičová

Prokop

2014

JBSE

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The decrease in the method of cadaveric dissection and its replacement with alternative methods has led to discussions about the significance of dissection in biology/anatomy lessons. Certain authors argue that the decline in anatomy knowledge in students is at least partially caused by these factors. An investigation was carried out on the effectiveness of teacher’s demonstrations of cadaveric dissection as opposed to a 3D plastic model on pre-service biology teachers’ ideas concerning what is inside animals. Students were pre-tested on their ideas as to what is inside animals and randomly divided into four treatments (Dissection + Model, Dissection, Model, Model + Dissection). After the treatment, the post-test scores revealed that treatments where both methods were combined resulted in the highest achievement scores, particularly in the case of anatomy of fish. It has been concluded that the combination of cadaver dissection with modern innovative methods is more effective for obtaining anatomy knowledge than the use of only one method. The use of alternative methods should not be in conflict with traditional methods. Key words: anatomy, animals, biology education, dissection, ideas, student.

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

Cited by 7 publications

References 3 publications

Death discussion in science read‐alouds: Cognitive, sociolinguistic, and moral processes

Death discussion in science read‐alouds: Cognitive, sociolinguistic, and moral processes

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

The Effects of 3d Plastic Models of Animals and Cadaveric Dissection on Students’ Perceptions of the Internal Organs of Animals

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