American Anti-Vivisection Society - Education

Education

Education is one of the focal points of the AAVS and its mission. From the organization’s birth, the aspect of education has remained strong, not only in just informing the public as to what vivisection and other such medical procedures were, but also in teaching children about properly treating animals. Teaching humane treatment of animals not only helps interspecies relationships, but also creates a betterment of ideology towards all creatures. As animal rights activist Joseph Covino Jr. writes, “a kid who’s raised to acknowledge no injury or injustice in mistreating or doing violence to a cat or a dog can never be counted on to think anything wrong in mistreating or doing violence to anything weaker than himself – his own kid maybe.”

Animalearn was created in 1990 and is the AAVS’ educational department. The group intends to illustrate how science and biology can be taught in schools without actually using animals, like with dissection in the classroom. Animalearn conducts free workshops with educators nationwide to show how to teach science without the use of animals, as well as trying to incorporate animal-rights, in concept and practice, into the curriculum and educational environment of the school setting. The group has created what they call the Science Bank which is a program of “new and innovative life science software and educational products that enable educators and students to learn anatomy, physiology, and psychology lessons without harming animals, themselves, or the Earth.”