The use of alternatives to animal tests in higher education

David Dewhurst

College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine

University of Edinburgh

BSc, PhD Physiology/pharmacology with extensive teachingDeveloper of Computer-based alternatives - Sheffield BioScience Programs www/sheffbp.co.ukDirector of Learning Technology - Medicine & Vet MedProfessor of e-Learning

Context• Animal use for educational purposes across Europe is falling

but is still significant and an underestimate. In UK 2005 number was 1,618 (0.056% of total)

• Primary users: UG pharmacology + other bio/medical sciences

Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals UK 1987-2005

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

19881989199019911992199319941996199719981999200020012002200320042005

Education 1000's

Aims of UG courses in pharmacology [physiol]

Produce graduates who:• have specialist pharmacological knowledge, • have a range of generic and specialist

pharmacological [laboratory] skills, • have generic transferable skills, life-long learners • are equipped to work in pharmaceutical industry

[11% BSc in UK], research/further training [36% BSc in UK]

• are equipped to benefit from other graduate work opportunities [18% BSc in UK]

Hollingsworth & Markham (2006) BEE-J, 8, First Employment of British Pharmacology Graduates

Designing a curriculum to achieve this

Many stakeholders exert influences on shape and content of curriculum

• University - educational provider, own the IP• Teachers - producers and primary change agents

• develop and deliver the curriculum• decide learning objectives and assessments• they are the change agents who need to be persuaded• most educated in traditional courses -resistant to change

• Students - consumers (pay fees)• Employers - consumers of graduates• External bodies - e.g. Pharmacology Societies,

General Medical Council - regulators

Learning objectives of labs

• Teaching and/or practicing:

• laboratory skills – generic and specific• new knowledge (reinforcing existing)• experimental design• data-handling skills• oral/written communication skills• working in teams• promoting staff-student interaction

Good:only vehicle for effective teaching & learning of lab skills,

animal handling skills and surgical skillsPromote interactive and active learningPromote teacher-student interactionALL FACTUAL KNOWLEDGE IS KNOWN

Traditional Animal Labs - good and bad

Bad:– use animals– heavy on staff and student time– expensive - require technical support, equipment,

consumables, specialist accommodation – sometimes negative learning experience - ‘failed’

experiments.Learning objectives may well be different for different student groups

What non-animal models are there? • computer programs - typically simulate animal

preparations/experiments• video and interactive video• mannekins, models, simulators, virtual reality• human self-experimentation• non-animal experiments (e.g. using plant

tissues, post-mortem material, cultured cells)• Ethically sourced cadavers• Clinical practice (veterinary treatment of [sick]

animals)

Multimedia Simulations - Frog Sciatic Nerve

Effects of neuromuscular drugs - cat NM junction

Effects of drugs on the human eye

Animations

High quality images

Which T&L objectives can non-animal models achieve?

– knowledge acquisition– data handling skills– experimental design skills– communication skills– team working and staff-student interaction– practical laboratory skills [some]– art of doing experiments, thinking ‘on your

feet’, animal handling-skills [some]– INNOVATION = BETTER TEACHING

Evidence that they work?• Numerous studies*• knowledge gain is equivalent• costs are less• better support for weaker students• good acceptance by students

• BUT: different learning objectives are achieved

Tutors must decide the PRIMARY learning objectives - may be different for different students.

*Knight A. (2207) The effectiveness of humane teaching methods in veterinary education. ALTEX: Alternatives to Animal Experimentation 2007;24(2):91-109.

Use of non-animal models

• as replacements for animal experiments

• to better prepare students

• to debrief students• as a fallback• to enable additional

data to be collected

Are alternatives widely used?

• may not precisely fit with course objectives

• staff resistance • need initial resource

input to implement e.g. develop support materials

• lack of academic time/skills to implement them

Evidence is yes but could be better

Convincing teachers

• Encourage teachers to re-examine learning objectives for different student groups

• Provide evidence of successful use - empirical,

qualitative, economic

• Publish exemplar good practice use cases • Increase awareness and outreach activities -

organisations, websites [EURCA], databases [NORINA]

• Use sustainable development methods which avoid technological redundancy [ReCAL]

Summary

• There are sound pedagogical reasons why non-animal models can be cost effective alternatives in UG teaching

• A wide range of ‘proven’ non-animal models already exist

• Teachers are the curriculum ‘change agents’• Efforts should be focussed on convincing teachers

– Awareness raising– Publishing evidence– Assistance with integration of alternatives into

mainstream teaching

David Dewhurst

david.dewhurst@ed.ac.uk

www.sheffbp.co.uk

… thank you

Sheffield BioScience Programs

• Established 1989• Currently > 40 titles mostly in physiology and

pharmacology– Simulations of experiments - alternatives– Interactive tutorials

• ‘Experimental Design’; ‘Medicines - the discovery process’

– Human and Clinical simulations

• Created by teams of content experts, educationalists, programmers

• Mostly available as cross-platform applications

www.sheffbp.co.uk

SBP Alternatives

• Frog Sciatic nerve• Frog Gastrocnemius

muscle• Frog Heart• Cat Nictitating

Membrane• Cat neuromuscular

junction• Rat intestinal transport• Rabbit Langendorff

Heart

www.sheffbp.co.uk

• Guinea Pig Airways • Rabbit skin - inflammation• Rat - colonic motility• Guinea Pig Ileum• Human eye - autonomic

pharmacol• Rat Blood Pressure• Rat Mitochondria• Frog Skin• Squid Axon• Experimental Design

New developments - ReCAL• Currently we can deliver on CD-ROM:

– original program which will run in Adobe Flash; – all of the learning objects for a particular program; – an IMS compliant ‘Content Package’ - VLE.

• Teachers control content creation = local editing and sustainability

• expand the number of LOs in the repository by ‘processing’ further CAL programs,

• develop appropriate business model offering: – online (Internet) access; – teacher access to the online repository of all LOs;– teacher access to the online authoring system (Labyrinth).