Welcome to Reach Out! Corner, AALAS’ new bimonthly place to pick up useful and innovative ideas for making your local public outreach initiatives as positive and productive as possible. If you have a suggestion you would like to contribute or need materials to use at your next outreach presentation, please contact us via e-mail at info@aalas.org.
Show How It Really Is! The next time you give a classroom presentation, take along a fully equipped mouse or rat cage, being sure to include the bedding, food, water bottle, cage card, and enrichment tools. Talk about the characteristics and purpose of each component of the cage to let the children see how much time and care goes into just one animal cage. Having tangible items for the kids to see and touch not only will spark their curiosity, but will give them a glimpse of what the actual environment is like for live rodents in an animal facility.
Safety first: If allowing the kids to touch the materials, bring along a new, unopened box of gloves—and be sure the gloves are latex-free!
Visit the AALAS Foundation web site for more information about Public Outreach and how you can help spread the message about the importance of what you do for a living!
Sincerity and Honesty—Always the Best Policy! You will want to be sincere and honest when talking with students and teachers in the classroom. Students often have preconceived, negative notions about the use of animals in research, and skirting sensitive issues such as euthanasia, end points, or toxicity testing may reinforce their convictions.
Be honest with your responses, and be sure your answers are on a level and of a depth the students will understand. If you do not know an answer to a question, tell them so. Do, however, find the answer quickly and get back with them soon after your presentation.
Being a professional in this field, you know the animals in your care receive quality care and treatment, and that their welfare is your first concern. Let the students and teachers know this, too, by expressing your compassion for your animals! They will soon see your genuine concern for the laboratory animals and begin to better understand that the people tending to the animals used in research really do care about them.
Let's Talk Clean Most people outside our field do not realize the great lengths we go to every day to make sure our animals have clean caging, equipment, and supplies. They have no concept of the cleaning schedules and record keeping involved. Educate the unknowing!
Here are some ideas for classroom activities and/or discussion materials related to cleaning and sanitization:
To get the kids thinking about just how strict and thorough our sanitation requirements are, ask them how often they sanitize their own pet’s food and water bowls. See if they do it daily and find out if their cleaning actually includes a cycle through the dishwasher. For a homework assignment, get them to ask their parents on what temperature their home hot water heater is set. Most hot water in homes is not nearly as high as the 180°F required in an animal facility. Explain why we use 180°F in our facilities and why they may not at home.
Learning about hygiene within the facility can easily fill any classroom presentation time you have scheduled and will help your audience better understand how devoted we are to caring for the well-being of our animals.
Sharing Your Job with Your Loved Ones Do you commonly leave work, go home, and talk to your significant other or children about their day but conveniently omit discussion of your own day at work? Do you think about participating in career day at your child’s school, but never follow through? Why is that? You enjoy your job. You are proud to be there every day taking care of the research animals. You know the research done at your company/facility helps people and animals; even your own family directly benefits!
So, why is it you are not sharing? They are your children, your spouse, and your friends. If anyone needs to learn about and understand your job, it is them. They are your built-in support network, your cheerleaders. They are the ultimate reason you do what you do.
Consider using these tips and pointers.
Remember, nobody knows your job better than you! Don’t leave them wondering. Don’t let the propaganda from others be the source of information for your family.
Become a Classroom Mentor Think back to your elementary school days. Did you have an animal or two (or even more!) in your classroom? Remember taking turns cleaning their cages, playing with them until the teacher was ready to start class, and yes, even watching them burrow, climb, or play in their cage instead of paying attention to the teacher? Live animals in the classroom help kids learn to care, to observe, and to be responsible. Every classroom should have one (or more)!
Unfortunately, many teachers do not keep animals in their classrooms. The reasons are varied, but may include lack of knowledge on caring for animals, inadequate funds to buy necessary equipment and supplies for the animals, or an unsupportive principal or school board.
This is where you come in. You are the professional caregivers for animals! Caring for animals is your profession, and hopefully, this is a profession of passion.
So, share your passion. Take a local classroom or two “under your wing.” Visit the classroom and talk to the kids about your job and the importance of proper animal care. Offer assistance and guidance to the teacher in caring for their animals. Provide them with retired caging and extra bedding (check with your company policies first). Provide basic veterinary assistance, treatments, and even euthanasia when necessary (within the scope allowed by your position and facility policies.) Provide the teachers with a list of resources for caging, bedding, feed, and other items necessary for appropriate animal care. Just be there! Answer any questions the teacher may have. Make periodic visits to the classroom to check on the animals. Show the students and teacher that laboratory animal professionals really do care about the well-being of all animals!
Reach Out! Toolbox Say you need to tighten a screw, want to hang a picture, or are doing some repairs on your car. What do you use? You use tools from your toolbox, of course.
Now imagine you have a presentation to give for your child’s class or you’ve been asked to give a career day presentation at the local school. What do you use? Of course, you use the new Reach Out! Toolbox.
When you have a job to do, you need the right tools. Well, that is exactly what the Reach Out! Toolbox provides for you. The Reach Out! Toolbox is not literally a “box” but rather a collection of “tools” needed for planning or conducting public outreach sessions within your local community. Information available includes:
The Reach Out! Toolbox is available, for your convenience, by download from both the AALAS and AALAS Foundation (under “Public Outreach”) web sites. Be sure to use the proper tools in your next outreach presentation! Here’s an idea: Consider using the Animal Research Fair Planning Guide in the Reach Out! Toolbox to plan and conduct an Animal Research Fair during International Laboratory Animal Technician Week!
Together for Life—Every Day of the Year The AALAS Foundation brings AALAS members yet another quality public outreach tool—the “Together for Life” Classroom Calendar. This multi-purpose outreach tool, designed with students and teachers in grades 6-10 in mind, is a must have for every science classroom.
The title of the calendar/poster, “Together for Life…Every Day of the Year,” captures the essence of what this calendar and biomedical research are about—people and animals devoting their lives every day to biomedical research to find disease cures and ways to improve life for both people and animals.
The two-sided “Together for Life” Classroom Calendar has several important functions:
The “Together for Life” calendar/poster is available free of charge from the AALAS office. Go online to the AALAS Bookstore to order enough for all of the teachers in your area. The AALAS Foundation encourages individuals, facilities, and branches to order as many calendars as you may need. The individual sections of content of the poster are also available by download from both the AALAS and AALAS Foundation (under “Public Outreach”) web sites.
Take a handful of these posters to the next school board or PTA meeting in your local area!
The AALAS Foundation would like to thank Millennium Pharmceuticals for their corporate sponsorship of this project.
AALAS Caring for Animals The AALAS Board of Trustees recently approved a new AALAS position statement. Developed by the AALAS Scientific Advisory Committee, the Use of Animals in Precollege Education states that the appropriate and humane use of animals in the elementary and secondary classrooms can provide significant educational benefits to the students, and that a positive interaction between students and animals in the classroom enhances not only scientific learning, but also provides an additional avenue promoting the development and growth of the students’ sense of responsibility and respect for all living things.
As part of its broader educational mission to ensure that all animal use is performed responsibly and humanely, AALAS has also developed a booklet called AALAS Caring for Animals: A Guide to Animals in the Classroom to assist teachers with the responsible and humane care of animals in the classroom. All of these materials can be downloaded for free from the AALAS web site or the Teacher link on the Kids-4-Research web site. Booklet sections available include:
Biomedical Graffiti We all have read about or even seen first-hand some of the graffiti and other “statements” made by animal rights activists. Though destructive and often illegal, their graffiti serves a purpose for these groups—it allows them to get their message out. AALAS members need to do the same. Not by spray-painting graffiti on the walls, but by using “educational expressions” to get our message out!
The AALAS Foundation has numerous materials to use for such purposes, including posters, cards, flyers, and brochures. These can be given to co-workers, branch members, and family members, but can also be passed on to people you do not know. Try these suggestions.
There are many ways to make educational expressions that are legal, safe, and do not deface property. Be creative with your biomedical graffiti!
Be sure to visit the “public outreach materials” section within the AALAS Bookstore to order your educational expressions today! All are free (shipping charges will apply to large orders) and are effective in getting our message out.
Do you have an idea for a unique public outreach project? Visit the “Grants” link on the AALAS Foundation web site and submit your idea today!
Consult the Reach Out! Toolbox The 2005-2006 school year has already entered into its second half. Have you made an appointment to visit a local classroom within the next couple of months? AALAS and the AALAS Foundation have many materials to help make your classroom presentation a successful one.
One of these is the Reach Out! Toolbox, which contains a collection of “tools” you can use to plan and present a classroom talk. A couple of specific tools I suggest using with middle school classrooms and above are the Direct Impact Questionnaire and the Opinion Survey on the Use of Animals. Both are great for jump-starting the kids into seriously thinking about the use of animals in research.
Many kids either have pre-formed opinions or have not really given the topic much thought, so the Direct Impact Questionnaire is a great way to introduce the kids to the many benefits they receive every day because of animal research. The questionnaire is presented in such a manner that the students see a wide variety of products and procedures they are familiar with that seemingly have no connection to biomedical research. However, when digging deeper the students discover that these are all possible and safe because of the use of animals in medical and product safety testing. Most kids are amazed to learn so many things they use or are exposed to daily are directly affected by animal research.
The Opinion Survey on the Use of Animals is another great tool for the classroom. This short survey asks for opinions on a variety of animal uses in today’s society, such as keeping a pet, hunting for sport versus food, and wearing fur coats. The survey allows students and others to better put their feelings about the use of animals in perspective when comparing them to other uses of animals. This questionnaire makes a great science fair project and is also perfect for introducing the collection and presentation of data using spreadsheet software. Directions for usage are on the back side of each activity.
Whether you use these activities as part of your presentation or pass them on to the teacher to use as a classroom activity, they are great tools for introducing the use of animals in research to students. Take advantage of these and the other materials in the Reach Out! Toolbox and schedule a classroom presentation before school lets out again in a few months!
Presentation Ice-Breakers With spring just around the corner, many AALAS members are being asked to participate in community outreach programs or to give a presentation at their child’s school. It can sometimes be difficult getting your presentation going. The students may need a little warming up to get in a critical thinking mode. See if some of these ice-breakers might be of use:
You can probably think of other similar topics to bring up as ice-breakers. In most cases, once the kids get thinking about health-related issues and research, they will be more receptive to your presentation and will even participate in discussions.
For a list of similar activities, check out the research rousers —they are a great way for teachers and for AALAS members to integrate laboratory animal science into the classroom setting.
“Research rousers” are part of the Together for Life classroom calendar/poster—one of many outreach materials funded by the AALAS Foundation. The AALAS Foundation’s mission is to support educational outreach on the essential role of responsible laboratory animal care and use in science to advance human and animal health. Learn more at http://aalasfoundation.org.
AREA Program = Public Outreach in Action Many of you attended the AALAS National Meeting in St. Louis last fall and probably remember the high school students touring the Exhibit Hall. They were invited to attend the meeting as part of the annual Animal Research Education & Awareness (AREA) Program. Now approaching its 12th year, the AREA program has made a positive impact on many students.
Below are select statements from evaluation forms returned at the end of the St. Louis AREA Program. It is interesting to see what types of things the kids were unaware of before attending this session, picked up on during the session, and had to say about AALAS members and our field after the session.
Was today’s program what you expected? Why or why not?
What do you feel was the most important thing you learned?
What did you like best about the program or the exhibit hall? Why?
See, what you do every day does matter! If your local AALAS branch would like information on how to conduct an AREA program at your next big meeting, email info@aalas.org.
Let's Talk Careers When you were in elementary school, what did you want to be when you “grew up”? Perhaps a veterinarian? That was the case for many of us. Had that changed by the time you reached junior or senior high school? Maybe then you wanted to be a marine biologist or work in a zoo? You knew that you wanted to work with animals, but what opportunities were there other than those few jobs? How many of you spent years early in your career doing other jobs that eventually led you to laboratory animal science? Don’t you wish you had known about the rewarding career choices available in our field then? Well, kids in schools across the country today will have that opportunity thanks to one of the newly funded products from the AALAS Foundation. Accept the Challenge to Care: Careers in Laboratory Animal Science was originally created in the late 1990s and has been completely remade thanks to dedicated financial support from Novartis and Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, Inc. The target audience of the video is high school students who are exploring possible career paths, yet junior high and even college students will benefit from its contents. Accept the Challenge to Care is divided into three segments. The first segment is an introduction to laboratory animal science and the benefits humans and animals receive from the use of animals in biomedical research. The second section provides viewers with a brief description of some of the most common careers, both those working directly and indirectly with animals. The final segment contains clips of people actually working in the field giving testimonials as to why they are in the field. The film includes many fascinating scenes of people working in a lab animal facility and the jobs that are so important to our field. The new Accept the Challenge to Care video is 15 minutes in length, comes in both DVD and VHS formats, and is available online through the AALAS Bookstore. Be sure to take a copy with you to your next Career Day event or career presentation!
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