Dissection is one of the oldest methods for studying the anatomy of organisms. Nonetheless dissection is often seen as problematic because of the moral aspect and negative emotions like disgust and fear. This thesis examines if dissection in schools brings more positive effects to knowledge about anatomy and lowering the level of negative feelings like disgust and fear towards possible future sections, than frontal lessons or demonstrations of dissection. To study the effectiveness of the methods, we prepared lessons about fish anatomy in three different versions. Frontal lessons, demonstration of a dissection and dissection of a fish in groups of five students. Before the lessons and two weeks after, the students filled a questionnaire, that tested the level of disgust felt for fish and dissection, their attitude towards dissection and their knowledge about fish anatomy. We used the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) for the dissection. We gathered the results before and after the lessons and we compared the results of the same students before and after. We also compared the results among the students who attended different versions of anatomy lessons. The highest increase in knowledge was observed in the students who attended the lesson with demonstration of dissection. The students who attended the frontal lessons and dissection in groups had comparable results. The frontal lessons and demonstration of dissection, however, didn’t have positive effects on reducing negative feelings like disgust and fear. The only lesson that showed improvement in such emotions was dissection in groups.
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