Interactive Frog Dissection on the Internet In recent years, the practice of frog dissection has become a controversial topic for moral, economic, environmental and educational reasons. Use of animals in the laboratory is of critical concern to animal-rights activists. Specimens are collected in the wild and are expensive. From an educational perspective, students are often not well-prepared to learn from dissection. The Interactive Frog Dissection was devised to help address some of these issues. The Interactive Frog Dissection was originally a videodisc-based program resulting from collaboration among Mable Kinzie of the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education, Richard Strauss of Norfolk City Schools in Norfolk, Va. and Jean Foss of Western Albemarle High School in Crozet, Va. Strauss conceived of a simulated frog dissection in fall, 1988 for a course in interactive technologies taught by Dr. Kinzie. He also enlisted the aid of Jean Foss, another teacher pursuing graduate studies. The team spent the fall designing and shooting the video, then pressed the videodisc at the end of the semester. In the spring of 1990, Strauss and Kinzie wrote a computer program to drive the videodisc on a PC platform using an authoring program called Authology for the IBM InfoWindow. Foss developed a program for the MacIntosh using Hypercard. Their research results on the efficacy of simulation suggest that the Interactive Frog Dissection can be effectively used as a substitute for dissection. Research also suggests that, if conducting a dissection, use of the program prior to beginning can better prepare students for the dissection experience. Whenever the team presented their research and the dissection program at conferences, they received a great deal of interest and many requests for access to the materials. Since only 200 videodiscs had been pressed for research, Dr. Kinzie was unable to fulfill these requests because of the all-too-common restraints of limited budget and distribution channels. The emergence of the World-Wide Web (WWW) on the Internet provided the distribution medium for these interactive multimedia materials. In 1994, Dr. Kinzie and two of her graduate students were able to address the constraints of limited budget and distribution channels by re-designing the Interactive Frog Dissection for the World-Wide Web (WWW). Development for the WWW eliminates the need to develop for multiple platforms and it expands accessibility. Only one version of the Interactive Frog Dissection had to be created for access from many types of computers (PC-compatible, Macintosh, Workstation, etc.). A user only needs an Internet connection, a web browser, and a QuickTime movie player (the last two have been readily available via the Internet). The Interactive Frog Dissection provides an on-line laboratory dissection experience. It helps students learn the anatomy of a frog and gives them a better understanding of the anatomy of vertebrate animals in general, including humans. Specimens are depicted with 60 in-line color images to highlight the visual similarities and differences in the frog anatomy. The student proceeds at his/her own pace through the following sections: Introduction Preparation: This section shows the steps necessary to prepare a frog for the dissection process. Skin Incisions: This section of the program describes the first skin incisions made through the frog's ventral surface (belly). Muscle Incisions: This section describes the procedures for making the incisions through the frog's abdominal muscles. Internal Organs: This section provides a careful, detailed exploration of the frog's anatomy. The exploration is conducted in four layers starting with the liver and heart, proceeding to the gall bladder, stomach, and small intestine, then to the lungs, pancreas and mesentery and finally exploring some of the different aspects of male and female frogs. QuickTime movies demonstrate dissection techniques, and provide information unavailable from still photographs such as how the heart beats. Interactive practice involves users in the experience, asking them to identify critical locations for various dissection procedures and to find various internal organs. Feedback is provided, and the user can always review before attempting a practice activity. In the first five months since its Internet release in August, 1994, users from around the globe have accessed the program. The on-line frog dissection program has been used more each week (an average of 1,300 clients/week) than the videodisc-based program had been used in its previous five years of existence. One interesting feature of the Interactive Frog Dissection program permits electronic feedback to its authors. User comments suggest that The Interactive Frog Dissection is an ideal tool for parents and children to use together. User comments also reveal that parents and educators are introducing the Internet and WWW to schools, teachers, and students as a function of their exposure to the simulated dissection. Teachers are recommending it to one-another in Internet discussion groups although usage in schools is still limited due to lack of direct Internet connectivity in the classroom. Some users are contemplating other possibilities for Internet use as indicated by the following: "This is a wonderful tool for students. The interactive component was simply outstanding." "It gives me some very good ideas for my own classes." "You could modify the frog program and use it for nearly ANY project." "Great stuff! Is this (WWW development) easy enough for 6th graders to do? I am planning on getting kids to create their own materials." To visit The Interactive Frog Dissection, point your World-Wide Web browser to the following address: http://curry.edschool.Virginia.edu/~insttech/frog/ The Interactive Frog Dissection is an excellent indication of how the Internet and the World-Wide Web can be used to provide a rich resource of effective instructional materials in a variety of media. Anyone with an Internet connection and a desire to learn can exercise this resource. According to Dr. Kinzie, "We hope that these experiences will continue to encourage innovative and effective instructional practice using the Internet as a powerful tool." For more information, contact: Mable Kinzie Department of Educational Studies Curry School of Education 405 Emmet St. Charlottesville, VA 22903 Phone: (804) 924-0835 Fax: (804) 924-0747 E-Mail: kinzie@virginia.edu .