The THREE Rs Activity

Critical thinking - debate on emotionS VS. facts

This website offers a range of activities that stimulate critical thinking among students. The main focus is a debate about emotions and facts in the context of animal welfare in science, supplemented with animal welfare in general. These activities find their origin in the directive 2010/63/EU and the Three Rs.

Education is key to sharing Three Rs knowledge. The learning scenario on this website helps students achieve plural learning objectives:

You can illustrate the relation between science and society on an ethical base.
You can illustrate the importance of scientific research in a healthy lifestyle.
You can create answers on sustainability problems concerning animal welfare.
You can think critically about emotions vs facts in animals in science.
You can formulate well-build arguments in a critical debate.

This activity starts with a warming-up session for students to recall previous knowledge or to clarify some facts concerning animal testing in science. In a second phase students learn what makes an animal adorable for us as humans. In a third phase, which is the main focus of this additional resource students enhance their critical thinking through debating emotions versus facts in the subject of animal welfare in science.

Directive 2010/63/EU

A "directive" is a legislative act that sets out a goal that all EU countries must achieve. However, it is up to the individual countries to make their own laws on how to reach these goals.

Directive.pdf

The directive has three key objectives:

To ensure efficient functioning of the EU internal market and enhance competitiveness and innovation of the EU research industry through the creation of an equal playing field.
To ensure high standards of welfare for animals that are used for scientific purposes.
To improve transparency to the general public on the use of live animals for scientific purpose in the EU.

High standards of welfare for animals used for scientific purposes implement Three Rs:

- - Replacement: methods which avoid or replace the use of animals in research.
  - Reduction: use of methods that enable researchers to obtain comparable levels of information from fewer animals, or to obtain more information from the same number of animals.
  - Refinement: use of methods that alleviate or minimize potential pain, suffering or distress, and enhance animal welfare for the animals used.

R.L. Burch and W.M.S. Russell, Three Rs, CCAC, n.d., Retrieved from https://3rs.ccac.ca

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