A rite of passage for high school science students. A controversial lesson plan. A pivotal, hands-on learning experience. These are all phrases that are used to describe the historical tradition of classroom dissections. With the beginning of the school year, the assignment is fast approaching for many students. But for some, what’s looming on the horizon isn’t animal cadavers, it’s new and cruelty-free technology.
About 10 million animals are killed yearly for this practice. For some students, the large statistic causes apprehension due to ethical concerns about killing animals for the sake of a classroom experiment. Others are nauseated by the idea of slicing open an animal corpse with a scalpel. However, these issues can be largely avoided. In the 21st century, students rely heavily on online resources for learning. There are numerous models and simulations of dissection that are readily accessible for anatomy classes as a replacement.
These online alternatives aren’t the only substitutes for the animals. In the fall of 2024, a branch of the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) called TeachKind released a product called the Kind Frog. The product has color-coded organs that are able to capture the essence of the internal workings of a frog and is opened by using a scalpel, mimicking the process used for actual dissection. The Kind Frog has been able to capture the likeness of the animal to such a degree that, for some schools, it has become the new subject for the science experiment.
“I would like schools to know that it is a super easy, one-to-one replacement for preserved frogs,” said Samantha Crowe, Teachkind’s Associate Director. “…It’s just as easy to… buy kind frogs as it is to buy dead frogs, so it’s a win-win for… schools, for students and for animals, of course.”
Some question whether or not the synthetic frog is truly a viable option for learning. Yet, the opinion of a science teacher says otherwise.
“I think that something like that [the Kind Frog] would be valuable,” said Julie Nevis, the anatomy teacher at Monte Vista. “It probably could be comparable or even save a little bit of money; it just depends.”
Nevis is not wrong. The Kind Frog, in fact, is cheaper than its counterpart, retailing at $5 compared to around $9. Perhaps most surprisingly is the fact that Kind Frog is not only affordable but seems to lead to more successful results than traditional dissection procedures. Normal procedures still work well in communicating the lesson intended by the assignment.
“….studies from the last 20 years… showed that overwhelmingly 95% of… students performed as well as or better when they used animal-free methods than their peers who dissected animals,” said Crowe.
These results beg the question of whether anatomy classes should be dissecting animal cadavers at all. Today, many alternatives to animal dissection can be just as beneficial for students, especially the Kind Frog. Whereas some schools don’t need to turn away from the real practice, others can use the Kind Frog to their advantage. By finding what works best for each school, it will promote learning in an environment where everyone can participate.
