The idea that dissections dissuade students from pursuing a science career is not new. The artificial amphibian could be a better ambassador for science, its proponents say, giving even those leery of the dissection table an introduction to the biological world. A synthetic frog, the SynFrog, is made from materials designed to mimic the look and feel of the real thing. Not every student fears dissection day, but a new tool may offer a middle ground. A portion of those suppress their qualms due to internal or external pressure - and, for some, the experience may even turn them away from science classes or science careers altogether. Studies show as many as 25 percent of secondary students object to dissection. A friend from a different high school told her dissection convinced her not to go into medicine. Some of her friends couldn’t even bring themselves to do the cutting, so they stood back and looked over her shoulder, Frey says. “I want to be on the medical career path, so I knew I had to do what I had to do,” she says. Mitchell High School in New Port Richey, Florida, forced herself to do it because she aspires to be a doctor. “I’m an animal lover,” she says, “so knowing animals were killed for scientific purposes just made me feel bad.” Each time Karina Frey picked up a scalpel to begin a dissection in her high school science classes, she felt sad.
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