Journal of Education & Social Policy

Regenerative Medicine in the Secondary Education Curriculum in Spain: Literacy in a New Medical Paradigm
Antonio Campos-Sánchez Ph.D; Ariane Ruyfelaert M.Ed; Juan A. López-Nuñez Ph.D; Fernando Campos M.Sc; Victor Carriel M.Sc, M.Biol, Ph.D

Abstract
This study investigated the presence of basic content related to regenerative medicine in secondary education textbooks in Spain as an approach to determining student literacy in this new paradigm of medicine. We identified ten concepts related to regenerative medicine, and carried out a quantitative evaluation of 12 textbooks. The fundamentals of cell and tissue structure were mentioned in 1% or more of the lines of text, and some items showed a significant correlation throughout secondary education. The items extracellular matrix, cell differentiation, cell death, cell-cell contact, growth factors, cell culture, cell therapy, and tissue engineering were present in less than 1%. Although the items stem cells and growth factors, basic concepts in regenerative medicine, were present in the textbooks analyzed here, the absence of the item biomaterials can potentially hinder the acquisition of appropriate literacy in this new paradigm, and hence the quality of health education, during secondary education.

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