Hart LA, Wood MW, Wiley D, Hamann B, Molinaro M, Meyers S, Stevenson FT, Storm WA. BioSafaris: A rationale for educational software on human biology and health in pre-college as an alternative to dissection. AATEX 2008;14(Special Issue):243-248


Abstract

We present interactive visualization software as an effective alternative to cadaver-based education to teach anatomy. Many laboratories in pre-college biology education still feature dissection of animals and do not reflect the exciting, web-available world. Teachers in focus groups describe that they are constrained by high- stakes testing, contradictory curricular requirements, limited teaching materials, and poorly integrated biology and health educational standards. Students gain insufficient knowledge about their own biology to manage their health care. Our three-dimensional visualization software has been designed, implemented and evaluated by a multi-disciplinary team of educators and computer scientists, and allows a student to explore the human body using the tools of human anatomy, physiology, comparative anatomy, and cellular biology. Our interdisciplinary project team has simplified human datasets of The Visible Human Project (National Library of Medicine). We will prepare a BioSafaris prototype of the digestive and cardiovascular systems. See video: http://www.stratovan.com/biosafaris/ Following funding and production of software, users could investigate essential aspects of human biology, simulate disease, and assess the resulting physiological effects. Technological tools could gather data for graphing and analyses. The eventual goal is to provide high-quality software on the entire human body, giving students an understanding of human biology and health sufficient to develop health literacy.



Author's contacts: lahart@ucdavis.edu

Author's keywords: education, dissection, software, biology, health literacy

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Link to journal: AATEX - Alternatives to Animal Testing and Experimentation