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Great to find a website for vegan teachers. I'm a science teacher and of course dissections are an issue. Here's what I do.

Basically I won't do dissections and will explain to the students why. I don't labour the point because I don't want contrary students to rebel against a vegan ethic because they're teenagers/ I'm a teacher (I think this could be a good other topic for discussion- how should we express our ethics in the classroom?)

I will make use of animations and video. I would use interactive virtual activities, but haven't needed to yet. I've never been the only Science teacher in the school and as such have always been able to get my class to sit in with another class whose teacher is demo-ing the dissection anyway. The lab techs have tended to get a few organs in from the butchers and as they have bought spare I have on occasions asked a colleague to do the dissection while I supervise their class.

Other times, particularly in schools overseas where the students are less questioning I've just not done the dissections at all.

I would point out that normally I only teach Science to Key Stage 3 and Chemistry to upper school so I haven't really had the dilemma of dissection as a class experiment.

It's an awkward one because I do understand that the students may be very much enjoy a dissection and find it interesting, but my ethics are to reduce suffering rather than to personally not take any animal product into my body. Therefore I suppose (although it's tenuous) could a lung or heart dissection be thought of as using a by product and therefore more acceptable than a frog or mouse dissection?

It's an awkward one and really I've been happy to just avoid it when I can and not think about the rights and wrongs about the whole issue.

Hopefully other vegan teachers out there will find this site which I guess is pretty new and will share their thoughts.

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