Development of alternative activities to animal use in pharmacology education

The aim of this work was to implement three alternative methodologies to replace the animal’s use in teaching as an aid tool to the learning/teaching process in pharmacology classes. We proposed to students in Pharmacology classes of Pharmacy course, three technical didactic alternatives to animal use: discussion group on a social network, mental maps and public space for exposure of contents called "Pharmaco window". At the end of the course, we applied a simple questionnaire to students enrolled in the course seeking to evaluate the perception of the understanding, use and acceptance of these three methods. The 26 students (100%) participated in all activities and said that the strategies adopted were positive regarding learning and discussions. They have considered the concept maps as a technique which facilitated the learning process (54%) and the closed group on the social network as the activity that led to a better discussion and understanding of the contents (77%). All the techniques adopted contributed positively. Thus, the didactic alternatives to use of animals in classes made possible the transmitting of knowledge, saving the even a small number of animals to suffer and following ethical values