Animal experimentation, cruel or necessary? Developing and delivering Science and Society activities as alternative final year undergraduate research projects

Dave Lewis1,2. 1University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom, 2IDEA CETL, Leeds, United Kingdom.

Budgetary, staff and space constraints means that there is an increasing impetus for Life Sciences Departments to develop alternatives to traditional laboratory-based wet research projects for their final year undergraduate students. Less that 20% of these graduates go onto science-based careers, there is therefore a need to develop alternative projects more suited to the majority of graduate’s career paths. There is also currently considerable public interest in ethical issues in science. With the new “Twenty First Century Science” GCSE and AS/A2s in “Science and Society” and “Critical Thinking”, ethics is increasing being incorporated within GCSE and A-Level science curricula. However, significant numbers of teachers do not have the confidence or knowledge to provide this teaching. The aim was therefore to develop alternative projects where students would develop and deliver “Science and Society” activities for local school children, evaluating and writing up this exercise as their final year research project.

A student was given the brief to develop a 2 hour interactive “Science and Society” session for Key Stage 5 pupils as part of the Leeds Festival of Science on the topic of “Animal experimentation, cruel or necessary?”. No constraints were placed on the format of the session but it had to incorporate a means by which it could be evaluated. Background information on the topic was provided by two 10 minute presentations, one arguing for, the other against the use of animals in research before participants debated questions such as: ”Do animals have rights. Are we abusing these when we undertake animal experiments?” and “45% of animals used have been “made in the lab”- genetically modified. Should we be making and using such animals?”, firstly in small groups and then in a plenary session. Discussion within the groups was facilitated by student volunteers. A second session entitled “Playing God, the use and abuse of human genetic information” was also run for KS 4 students utilising a different format. Participants were provided with brief introductions to individual topics e.g. Eugenics or Designer babies; they were then given case studies to discuss, firstly in small groups and then in a plenary session. The sessions were evaluated using pre and post session questionnaires on ethical viewpoints, the use of personal response systems within the session and by end of session pupil and staff feedback questionnaires. Feedback from both school staff and pupils was extremely positive. Pupils knowledge of the topic and the underlying ethical issues was increased. They enjoyed the sessions and would return for additional sessions on other topics. The undergraduate students then wrote up this exercise as their final year research projects

These projects encourage students to be enterprising and innovative; they also enhance their future career opportunities and employability. By working with the local community and schools, not only are these students promote the public understanding of science, but also hopefully they will also encourage schoolchildren to follow them into science-based courses at Leeds.