Educators’ Views on Dissection Alternatives at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, many schools made the decision to cancel face-to-face classes and move instruction online. To better understand how the pandemic affected science educators’ plans to conduct classroom animal dissection exercises, we conducted a nationwide survey of biology teachers (n = 2131) and asked about their experience as classes transitioned to online. Our survey revealed that 72% of biology educators had planned on having their students participate in classroom animal dissection exercises in the spring of 2020. Of those educators, 29% shifted to the use of dissection alternatives, such as web-based programs, as a result of remote learning. Our survey investigated which alternatives were most used, whether teachers were already familiar with the alternatives, how teachers identified those alternatives, and whether the educators planned to use dissection alternatives again for in-person or online learning. These survey results provide insight into biology educators’ use of dissection alternatives during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as their post-pandemic plans and may increase awareness and usage of dissection alternatives within the educational community.