Using Live Animals for Teaching in Animal Sciences: Students' Attitudes To Their Learning Process and Animal Welfare Concern

The opinions of students at the Faculty of Agriculture (Seville University, Spain) concerning the educational usefulness and the affectation of the rabbits welfare of a university farm for teaching Rabbit Farming were analyzed. Both prior to beginning the course as well as upon completion, the major...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: González Redondo, Pedro, Caravaca Rodríguez, Francisco Pascual, Castel Genís, José María, Mena Guerrero, Yolanda, Delgado Pertíñez, Manuel, Fernández Cabanás, Víctor Manuel
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2010
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/84584
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/84584
https://doi.org/10.3923/javaa.2010.173.179
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Education
Students' attitudes
Teaching farm
Animal sciences
University
Rabbit
Descripción
Sumario:The opinions of students at the Faculty of Agriculture (Seville University, Spain) concerning the educational usefulness and the affectation of the rabbits welfare of a university farm for teaching Rabbit Farming were analyzed. Both prior to beginning the course as well as upon completion, the majority of students supported the use of the farm for conducting the practicals (97.9% before the course; 100.0% after) they preferred to learn on the university farm rather than visiting commercial farms (90.7% before; 95.3% after) and they believed the welfare of the rabbits was not harmed (63.8% before; 54.7% after), or if it was harmed that it was not reason enough to discontinue the use of the rabbits for the practicals (36.2% before; 40.4% after). The students' expectations prior to participating in the practicals and their opinions upon completion revealed that they though that with the university farm they learned 60% more than without its help. The majority of Agricultural Engineering students agreed that the establishment of a teaching farm in the university for the purpose of Rabbit Farming practicals significantly improved the teaching learning process and the majority of students perceived the welfare of the rabbits was not negatively affected.