Using animals in education as a means of discovering meaningful contexts to enhance learning and motivate learners: Challenges and opportunities to integrate and broaden STEM education

Through purposeful curriculum, design educators can aim to capture both the hearts and minds of students and, in doing so, motivate them to persist in learning and deepen their knowledge and skills. Careful construction of learning activities that make meaning explicit to students and contextualizing knowledge within authentic learning scenarios can help promote intrinsic motivation for learning and integrate STEM. Examples of integrating the use of animals into learning activities are provided that illustrate some of the benefits and means by which this pedagogical strategy can be used to contextualize knowledge in ways that integrate wider considerations such as biological and behavioral processes, and potential implications for ethics, animal welfare, and regulatory issues. It can also help situate learning in a context that is meaningful for students, fostering motivation and deeper learning. Several examples of using animals either directly or indirectly to promote interdisciplinary learning are provided. While examples of using animals to achieve educational goals are highlighted, this model for improving learning and student motivation can be applied to other contexts that do not utilize animals. The use of animals either directly or indirectly provides valuable opportunities to integrate and broaden the application of STEM within education.