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Competing Views of Embryos for the Twenty-First Century: Textbooks and Society

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Abstract

It might seem that an embryo is an embryo, and that there would be a fact of the matter. That seems especially true with respect to the way embryos are presented in textbooks, including high school biology textbooks. This paper looks at three co-existing, competing, and often conflicting views of embryos. Then with a close study of twentieth century high school biology textbooks, it explores suggestions about the ways those books have influenced public impressions of embryos.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Cera Lawrence, Kostas Kampourakis, and an unnamed reviewer who read carefully and offered unusually helpful suggestions. The research was supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation.

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Correspondence to Jane Maienschein.

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Maienschein, J., Wellner, K. Competing Views of Embryos for the Twenty-First Century: Textbooks and Society. Sci & Educ 22, 241–253 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-011-9369-9

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