American Anti-Vivisection Society, 801 Old York Road, #204, Jenkintown, PA 19046, USA.
Altern Lab Anim. 2004 Jun;32 Suppl 1B:495-500. doi: 10.1177/026119290403201s79.
Science fair projects can provide a sound opportunity to teach students the value of scientific methodology without relying on the routine and unnecessary use of animals. Unfortunately, students are often encouraged to use animals in an expendable manner that both duplicates previous experiments and neglects the opportunity to "think outside the box" in order to generate new hypotheses/theories about human health, physiological processes or basic biological concepts. Although at least one national science fair sponsor has changed its policy regarding students' utilisation of vertebrate animals, others continue to encourage the more traditional in vivo experimental projects. This paper will review the guidelines of two major national science fairs in the USA; types of projects conducted that involve animals; numbers of animals involved; interview responses by some student finalists who used vertebrates in their projects; successful initiatives by animal advocates in the USA to eliminate the use of animals in science fairs; and potential areas of outreach to science educators, science fair sponsors, high schools and students.
科学展览项目可以为学生提供一个很好的机会，让他们在不依赖常规和不必要使用动物的情况下，了解科学方法的价值。不幸的是，学生们经常被鼓励以一种可消耗的方式使用动物，这种方式既重复了以前的实验，又忽略了“跳出框框”的机会，无法针对人类健康、生理过程或基本生物概念产生新的假设/理论。尽管至少有一个国家科学展的赞助商已经改变了其关于学生使用脊椎动物的政策，但其他赞助商仍在鼓励更传统的体内实验项目。本文将回顾美国两个主要的国家科学展的指导方针；涉及动物的项目类型；所涉及的动物数量；一些在项目中使用脊椎动物的学生决赛选手的采访回复；美国动物权益倡导者为在科学展中消除动物使用而采取的成功举措；以及向科学教育工作者、科学展赞助商、高中和学生进行宣传的潜在领域。
