Informe de aplicación del Aprendizaje Basado en Problemas

APRENDIZAJE BASADO EN PROBLEMAS

TEXTOS EN INGLÉS

Examples of the Benefits from Animal Research and the Animals Involved:

Smallpox (cow) has now been eradicated from earth, Polio has been eradicated from North America and people in countries all over the world are being successfully treated (mouse and monkey). Insulin is now able to help control diabetes (dog, fish). There are vaccines for tetanus (horse), rubella (monkey), anthrax (sheep), and rabies (dog, rabbit). A short list, far from comprehensive, of some of the achievements made possible by medical research and the animal used to develop it:

An understanding of the Malaria lifecycle (pigeon), tuberculosis (cow, sheep),Typhus (guinea pig, rat, mouse), and the function of neurons (cat, dog).
The discovery of anticoagulants (cat), penicillin (mouse), open heart surgeryand cardiac pacemakers (dog), lithium (rat, guinea pig), treatment for leprosy(armadillo), organ transplantations (dog, sheep, cow, pig), laproscopic surgical techniques (pig), and a drug for AIDS treatment (monkey)

Animals are different from humans, so how can they accurately represent humans?

Animal models are not perfect representations of humans and scientists are well aware of this. BUT, they do serve as excellent substitutes (mostly using mice, rats and other small rodents) for humans.

As the genomic revolution has come around and the genomes of both humans and animals have been sequenced, we have realized that there are much more similarities between humans and animals than there are differences. It has also enabled us to identify where humans and particular animals are identical, as some animals serve as accurate representatives of a human’s anatomy, while others may share identical biochemical pathways. Genomic knowledge has made it so that animal research can be much more specifically targeted and accurate when representing a human, thus correctly predicting a how a human will react.

The vast majority of biologists and several of the largest biomedical and health organizations in the United States endorse animal testing. A 2011 poll of nearly 1,000 biomedical scientists conducted by the science journal Nature found that more than 90% "agreed that the use of animals in research is essential."  The American Cancer Society, American Physiological Society, National Association for Biomedical Research, American Heart Association, and the Society of Toxicology all advocate the use of animals in scientific research.

Most experiments involving animals are flawed, wasting the lives of the animal subjects. A 2009 peer-reviewed study found serious flaws in the majority of publicly funded US and UK animal studies using rodents and primates. 87% of the studies failed to randomize the selection of animals (a technique used to reduce "selection bias") and 86% did not use "blinding" (another technique to reduce researcher bias). Also, "only 59% of the studies stated the hypothesis or objective of the study and the number and characteristics of the animals used." Since the majority of animals used in biomedical research are killed during or after the experiments, and since many suffer during the studies, the lives and wellbeing of animals are routinely sacrificed for poor research.

Drugs that pass animal tests are not necessarily safe. The 1950s sleeping pill thalidomide, which caused 10,000 babies to be born with severe deformities, was tested on animals prior to its commercial release. Later tests on pregnant mice, rats, guinea pigs, cats, and hamsters did not result in birth defects unless the drug was administered at extremely high doses. Animal tests on the arthritis drug Vioxx showed that it had a protective effect on the hearts of mice, yet the drug went on to cause more than 27,000 heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths before being pulled from the market. 

Animals can suffer like humans do, so it is speciesism to experiment on them while we refrain from experimenting on humans. All suffering is undesirable, whether it be in humans or animals. Discriminating against animals because they do not have the cognitive ability, language, or moral judgment that humans do is no more justifiable than discriminating against human beings with severe mental impairments.  As English philosopher Jeremy Bentham wrote in the 1700s, "The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?" 

The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness

On this day of July 7, 2012, a prominent international group of cognitive neuroscientists, neuropharmacologists, neurophysiologists, neuroanatomists and computational neuroscientists gathered at The University of Cambridge to reassess the neurobiological substrates of conscious experience and related behaviors in human and non-human animals.

We declare the following: “The absence of a neocortex does not appear to preclude an organism from experiencing affective states. Convergent evidence indicates that non-human animals have the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neurophysiological substrates of conscious states along with the capacity to exhibit intentional behaviors. Consequently, the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness. Nonhuman animals, including all mammals and birds, and many other creatures, including octopuses, also possess these neurological substrates.”

Alternatives in Education

“Classes involving animal use may have negative psychological effects on students. Furthermore, such classes may not contribute to the proper attitude-building of students, i.e. that animals deserve respect and have an intrinsic value.” ¹

Thankfully, the prevalence of cruelty-free science classes and use of non-animal dissection alternatives is increasing, as more and more people learn that the use of animals in science education is no longer a necessity or requirement, and as fewer educators consider it the most productive route to learning or doing science. Many students today are committing to avoiding the harmful use of animals in education as they pursue careers in medicine, biology, veterinary medicine, and other areas of science. Most medical and veterinary schools now offer students the choice to train through modern non-animal models and methods or through supervised training on animals in need. Educators expect the student to master the same body of knowledge and pass the same examinations as those learning through traditional animal labs or dissections. Studies show that these students tend to do as well—if not better—on exams compared to students taking traditional classes that involve the harmful use of animals.

Through ESEC, we offer a free Loan Library that contains over 300 non-animal dissection and other teaching alternatives, providing students with the tools and support they need to maintain their humane values.

issection alternatives

Alternative dissection programs, CDs/DVDs, and models are widely available; most are cost-effective or available at no cost. All provide comparable learning experiences to traditional classroom specimen dissections. Alternatives save not only animals’ lives, but also impact school budgets by dramatically reducing dissection lab costs as students can reuse alternative programs, year after year. Utilizing animals involves the purchase of new specimens each semester along with costs associated with the proper disposal of the body parts, as required by environmental laws—not a cost-effective initiative, especially when school systems are struggling to keep programs due to budget cuts. Alternatives also have a far smaller environmental impact than does the harvesting of frogs, use of toxic preserving chemicals, and after-class disposal of body parts.

Research suggests that students who learn from anatomical models, computerized dissection software programs, charts, interactive CDs and DVDs, audiovisual aids, or other alternatives perform as well or better on tested subject matter compared to students who used animal specimens.  In addition to superior learning, educational alternatives allow students to learn at their own pace, to make up missed classes or content, and ultimately to make learning more fun, interactive, and humane. Since dissection destroys much of the integrity of the specimen’s skeletal structure and spatial relationships among tissue and organs, computerized dissection simulates better science by allowing the student to reexamine, pause, reverse, repeat, or zoom in or out on specific organs without compromising the specimen. More importantly, once a student finishes with the computerized study module, the computer program will put the animal back together—ready for the next student.

Bibliography

http://animal-testing.procon.org/#background

http://www.pro-test.org.uk/2006/03/facts-about-animal-research.html

http://fcmconference.org/img/CambridgeDeclarationOnConsciousness.pdf

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/03/animal-minds/virginia-morell-text

http://www.neavs.org/alternatives/in-education

Trabajo Colaborativo

Los alumnos trabajaron en colaboración y trabajo autónomo en parejas, colaboración y trabajo autónomo de grupo completo y en reflexión individual.

Sensibilización
 Las preguntas guía apoyaron a los alumnos en la identificación y comprensión del problema del contexto.
         

Gestión del conocimiento
 Los alumnos buscaron en los textos en inglés los contenidos necesarios para analizar y resolver el problema. A su vez, desarrollaron su competencia de comprensión de lectura de textos en inglés.

Análisis del Problema
 Los alumnos socializaron la información que cada uno juzgo más relevante y de manera colaborativa crearon un cuadro comparativo, organizando los argumentos a favor y en contra en tres categorías. 

Pensamiento Crítico
  Los alumnos desarrollaron su habilidad de preguntar para clarificar y cuestionar sus creencias, teorías y perspectivas.

Identificación de valores y búsqueda de alternativas
 Los alumnos utilizaron las preguntas guía para realizar un breve reflexión individual y de manera grupal revisar sus preguntas de la fase anterior.

Escenario de ejecución
 Después del análisis realizado en las fases anteriores, los alumnos realizaron de manera individual una reflexión final y plan de acción pues su respuesta a la pregunta central (resolución del problema) es una decisión individual.

EVALUACIÓN

MAPAS DE APRENDIZAJE
EVIDENCIA: CUADRO COMPARATIVO
DESEMPEÑO	PRE-FORMAL	RECEPTIVO	RESOLUTIVO	AUTÓNOMO	ESTRATÉGICO
Notas con la identificación de argumentos a favor y en contra de la vivisección en textos escritos en inglés	Obtengo una idea del contenido de la información	Identifico información específica relativa a los argumentos	Reconozco argumentos relevantes	Reconozco argumentos a favor y en contra	Reconozco y clasifico los argumentos, obtengo ideas y opiniones
Identificación de parámetros a comparar	Tengo una idea de cómo categorizar la información	Menciono posibles parámetros o categorías	Identifico parámetros o categorías lógicas	Identifico parámetros lógicos y relevantes.	Identifico los parámetros más relevantes de acuerdo al tema
Organización adecuada de afirmaciones con los datos más relevantes	Tengo una idea de cómo organizar los datos obtenidos de la lectura	Escribo afirmaciones sustentadas de manera relativamente organizada	Escribo afirmaciones sustentadas de manera organizada	Identifico los datos más relevantes y los integro al cuadro de manera organizada	Sintetizo la información en afirmaciones con los datos más relevantes y la organizo de manera adecuada

MAPAS DE APRENDIZAJE
EVIDENCIA: PREGUNTAS GUÍA PARA LA TOMA DE DECISIÓN
DESEMPEÑO	PRE-FORMAL	RECEPTIVO	RESOLUTIVO	AUTÓNOMO	ESTRATÉGICO
Preguntas a plantearse  antes de tomar la decisión de practicar la vivisección	Planteo preguntas interesantes sobre el tema	Planteo preguntas que apoyan mi toma de decisiones	Planteo preguntas que guían mi toma de decisiones considerando la información obtenida	Planteo preguntas que guían mi toma de decisiones considerando mis valores y los datos más relevantes a mis necesidades	Planteo preguntas que clarifiquen y cuestionen mis principios de razonamiento moral y de toma de decisiones considerando las competencias necesarias en mi área de especialidad

MAPAS DE APRENDIZAJE
EVIDENCIA: ESCENARIO DE EJECUCIÓN
DESEMPEÑO	PRE-FORMAL	RECEPTIVO	RESOLUTIVO	AUTÓNOMO	ESTRATÉGICO
Solución del problema (decisión personal), reflexión final sobre las repercusiones de mi decisión y argumentos para apoyar mi decisión en el mundo real	Planteo ideas relativas al tema.	Planteo posibilidades y datos de apoyo.	Tomo una decisión y menciono datos que la apoyan.	Ofrezco argumentos sólidos que apoyan mi  decisión.	Apoyo mi decisión final considerando las repercusiones, con argumentos morales y prácticos bien sustentados.