the role of frog dissection in education

THE ROLE OF FROG DISSECTION IN EDUCATION SKIN
THE ROLE OF FROG DISSECTION IN EDUCATION FULL

The ability of background music (BM) to enhance the cognitive abilities of students is well documented. Notable challenges, such as mental distress, boredom, negative moods, and attitudes, have been associated with learning in the cadaver dissection laboratory (CDL). Although students were satisfied with dissection practices the experience cause stressful responses. Indeed, 98.2% considered that dissection practices were useful in reinforcing the theoretical aspects of their education, and 80.7% believed that dissecting was more useful than theoretical models. Nonetheless, 100% of students would go through the experience again. In contrast, uncertainty levels showed significant changes, falling from 44.4% to 12.3%. Anxiety and fearful thoughts tended to drop (P > 0.05). Female students started with higher levels of SA than their male counterparts but by the end of the year these had dropped to similar levels. State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory questionnaires were used to assess the students’ ‘state anxiety’ (SA), which dropped significantly from 49.1% to 14% by the end of their first year. Questionnaires were distributed among them before and after their dissection practices in order to understand their feelings and emotions and their satisfaction about this activity. This is a before and after descriptive study of students at the University of Castilla‐La‐Mancha. The aim of this study is to explore the attitudes, reactions, and anxiety levels of first‐year medical students when working in the dissecting room, over a period of one year, and to relate these anxiety levels to the results of our educational program. This practice, however, can be stressful for students and can generate a certain amount of anxiety. Although frogs can sometimes serve as important research subjects, it is important to find alternate ways of answering our science questions that do not involve the use of live frogs, and instead use innovative non-animal methods.Practical training in the dissection of human cadavers is a fundamental and traditional component of human anatomy education in medical schools. Unfortunately, many species of frogs (as well as other amphibians, like salamanders) are often collected straight from the wild for their use in science, which disrupts the delicate ecosystem balance of their natural habitat, and little thought is given to population impact or health issues. Frogs have also been used in studies involving the regeneration of limbs.

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The number of amphibians, like frogs, used for scientific research in Canada in 2018 was about 88,475! Frogs are often used in developmental studies because of their ability to undergo metamorphosis (one of their superpowers where they change from a tadpole into a full frog!). At AiSPI we would much prefer that frogs were no longer used for dissection – instead, students can learn all about how amazing living, breathing frogs are by doing respectful nature walks to find frogs in their natural habitat!

However, we can easily learn about frog anatomy in lots of other ways that don’t require real frogs. In a teacher survey we did in 2017, we found that 79% of teachers in British Columbia still do animal specimen dissections in their science classes.

Many schools in Canada still dissect frogs as part of high school science education. In other words, an insect can be right in front of them, but the frog wouldn’t spot it if it stayed very still. However, despite their great range of vision, they can only spot a prey if it is moving. Next time when there is heavy rain, go to a nearby pond and see if you can hear frogs croaking! Male frogs will croak loudly in the presence of rain to attract female frogs, so they can copulate while the climate offers a fertile environment.įrogs can see all around them thanks to their bulging eyes. Male and female frogs will release sperm and eggs, respectively, into the water at the same time during copulation. According to National Geographic, one golden poison frog has enough venom to kill ten full grown men! Woah!įemale frogs lay eggs that are fertilized outside their bodies. The most poisonous of them is the golden poison frog (pictured above).

THE ROLE OF FROG DISSECTION IN EDUCATION SKIN

Poison dart frogs (commonly found in South and Central America) are known to have bright coloured skin that secretes toxins – this protects them from predators. Although frogs are cool, you should be careful when you see one in the wild, especially if they have bright coloured skin.

The role of frog dissection in education