PETA Donates Software to Help San Antonio School Cut Out Frog Dissection

Johnson High School Welcomes Modern Teaching Tools That Make Kindness Part of the Curriculum

For Immediate Release:
May 28, 2014

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

The end of the school year is bringing a major change to Claudia Taylor “Lady Bird” Johnson High School: Students are now being taught biology without cutting into any animals, thanks to software donated by PETA.

At the request of one of the school’s biology teachers, PETA—through its national educational grants program—has donated the popular Froguts virtual dissection software, which allows students to get a close look inside frogs, sea stars, squids, fetal pigs, and more without harming them.

Other teachers at the school were so impressed with the program that starting this fall, all biology courses will be taught using the software instead of dissecting animals. Interactive software such as Froguts has been shown to teach anatomy better than animal dissection.

“PETA’s donation of state-of-the-art software is helping Johnson High School cut out cruel and archaic animal dissection from the curriculum,” says PETA Director of Laboratory Investigations Justin Goodman. “The school’s decision to modernize its biology courses will spare the lives of countless frogs and other animals, save the district money, and provide students with a more effective and humane learning experience.”

The millions of animals used in classroom dissections come from biological supply houses, which breed animals, or are obtained from animal shelters or even taken from the wild. Studies have repeatedly shown that modern methods such as interactive computer programs are effective, save teachers time and money, and increase student confidence and satisfaction.

The National Science Teachers Association endorses the use of modern non-animal methods as complete replacements for animal dissection.

For more information, please visit PETA.org/Dissection and click here.