Virtual dissections in the teaching of practical biology in South African high schools.

Digital information technology has been defined as “changing how people learn, teach, work, and play. By the year 2005, the capabilities and the affordability of digital technology could catalyze and facilitate the wholesale transformation of education and the communities that support it” (Center for Technology in Learning, 1994[online]) Education as a professional field is also constantly changing, values shift, new curricula are introduced, and new technologies redefine how we teach and learn. The most interesting and important innovation in education in recent years is the widespread introduction of computers into schools. Computers represent powerful tools that can be used by both students and teachers for instructional purposes. Of particular interest is the Internet and more specifically, the World Wide Web (www), which is radically redefining how we obtain information and the way we teach and learn (Adams, 1995 [online]). Images and information from all around the world can be accessed easily in the classroom. Biology is one of the school subjects taught in South Africa. This demands sessions that may include dissections. Dissection can be defined as cutting and separating of constituent parts of an animal or a plant specimen for a scientific study and as observing or cutting into a dead animal for purposes of learning anatomy or physiology (Balcombe, 1997:34). It is thought that dissection enhances the knowledge and understanding of internal organs, their relationships and their functioning, and that maximum learning is most likely to be achieved by maximising the personal experience of the reality being taught (Wheeler, 1993:39). However, dissection has always been a controversial issue in biology teaching. In fact, when forced to use animals in ways to which the student objects, the student may even be traumatised and learn less (Adams, 1995: [online]).Mr. G.V. Lautenbac