Presenter: Cynthia Checketts
Authors: Cynthia Checketts
Faculty Advisor: Rachel Mason Dentinger
Institution: University of Utah
Throughout the undergraduate experience students are introduced to hundreds of experiments, theories, and principles, many of which are rooted in animal experimentation. However, throughout these required and information-heavy courses, animals as independent players in science isn’t usually the main topic. I believed this led students to leave their biology education with a utilitarian and minimized, and therefore incomplete, view of animals in science. To discover this gap and suggest ways to bridge it, I created a pre-survey to gather what beliefs about animals students were entering their biology classes with or what they were being taught in those classes; a presentation with information about animal history, ethics, and uses aimed at confronting students with commonly overlooked aspects of animal research and history; and a post-survey to gauge whether providing students with a more in-depth education about animal research did help them shift their perspective to viewing animals as important scientific and cultural individuals. Several introductory and upper-level biology classes participated. Though comparing the surveys revealed that many students did have some kind of exposure to the topics of animal experimentation and ethics, many students recognized that the topics covered in the presentation were important and significant for biology students. Their responses suggest that the presentation did cause them to reevaluate their opinions of animals and animal experimentation, bringing up the idea of productive struggle. Interestingly, on one question, 27% of the students implied they felt greater conflict or indecision about the idea of animal experimentation and ethics. Productive struggle with scientifically significant subjects gets students to engage with complex topics and more deeply understand their implications. Providing students with these experiences around animal research may improve the accuracy with which future research is carried out by current undergraduate students.