USING ANIMALS IN SECONDARY-SCHOOL SCIENCE LESSONS - TEACHER EXPERIENCE AND ATTITUDE

A questionnaire was administered to all secondary school science teach ers in a single local education authority. Three main questions were i nvestigated: 1. How may science teachers use animals in their work? 2. What are science teachers' attitudes to using animals? and 3. How wou ld science teachers respond to students who object to working with ani mals? Over half of the teachers with a background in the physical scie nces use no animals in their teaching with students up to 14-years-old . The majority of teachers agreed with keeping animals in schools for observation purposes, for use in non-harmful experiments, and in pet c lubs. Most teachers showed a sympathetic approach to students with mor al objections to working with animals and animal material.