Animals in pain – who feels what?

Suitable for 14 to 19-year-olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom or shared with students online.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 Biology and Philosophy.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of philosopher Professor Deborah Brown and neurobiologist Professor Brian Key at The University of Queensland in Australia who have created a unique team of philosophers and neuroscientists to investigate which animals have the capacity to feel pain.
• This resource also contains interviews with Deborah and Brian. If you or your students have a question for them, you can submit it online – go to the article using the Futurum link below and scroll to the bottom of the page. They will reply!
• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on the team’s research, and tasks them to debate a range of philosophical ideas.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

If you like these free resources – or have suggestions for improvements –, please let us know and leave us some feedback. Thank you!