Latin School of Chicago

Upper School Surgery Project For any upper school student at Latin with aspirations of entering the medical field, David Kim���s Anatomy and Physiology elective for juniors and seniors gives a very real glimpse of what the future holds. Through a grueling two semesters of learning about the body and how it functions, students are exposed to the kind of content that often is not part of the curriculum until late in college. While the information they have to absorb is challenging, and only those students who are passionate about the topic sign up for the course, Kim���s commitment to balancing textbook and hands-on learning creates a compelling and inspirational experience. As students study the body, they also have opportunities like dissecting a cow���s eye during their unit on the eye or dissecting a cat to identify organs. The class also is invited to the University of Illinois-Chicago Medical School���s gross anatomy lab to study and handle human cadavers that have recently been dissected by first-year medical students. ���It���s a delicate balance that science teachers ���Science can be really struggle with,��� explains Kim. ���Science an inundation can be an inundation of information, knowledge and details. But at this stage in our students��� of information, development, it also has to be applicable and knowledge and tangible. It is very exciting for students when they are able to see the relevance of what details. But at they have been learning by relating it to their this stage in own bodies.��� The class��� hands-on approach continues in our students��� the final project, in which each student development, it researches, prepares and presents a surgery case study. Students must choose a condition or also has to disease that can be treated through surgery, its elements be applicable describethe process ofand symptoms, and explain the surgery and recovery. and tangible. The highlight of the project ��� and a very unique opportunity for high school-aged ��� David Kim, upper students ��� is shadowing and interviewing the school science teacher surgeon and observing the actual surgery in the operating room. Finally, students use video, photography, animation and other tools to explain what they have learned to their peers. David Kim with students. 30 Latin Magazine Kim first assigned the project a few years into teaching the course when he realized that a written exam did not adequately provide the kind of learning experience he was seeking for his students. ���I wanted to offer something that would leave a lasting impression,��� he says. ���When you see a body opened in front of you or an actual beating heart in a surgeon���s hands during open heart surgery, that is going to have an impact.��� While for some the close-up view is difficult, most students are awed by what they are witnessing. All gain a new appreciation for the human body and what it does. Ultimately, though, the project is about applying the knowledge students have gained throughout the year to a real-life situation. ���It is not just about a bunch of numbers and names, but gaining a deeper understanding of what the human body does, how it does it, how it can be damaged and how it can be treated,��� Kim says. He continues, ���Students are studying a problem, and are asked to tell us how to fix it ��� something they will be doing throughout their lives whether they go into the medical field or the corporate world.���

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