Dr. Allevable and Regenerobot Explore the Heart, Bone and Spine

Molly BugaileSchool of EducationDuquesne University

Mentor: Dr. John A. Pollock

INTRODUCTION:

Regenerative Medicine Partnership Education began in September 2005 and was funded by the National Center for Research Resources – a component of the National Institute of Health, Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA). It was a collaborative effort with Duquesne University, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. The goal was to develop educational programs focusing on regenerative medicine and health care of the future for principal use in the Carnegie Science Center Buhl Planetarium. The project produced movies for various ages. They discuss tissue engineering in the skeletal system and heart.METHODSTogether with the School of Education major Brianne Miller, we created teacher and student workbooks that accompany the movies. The final layout and packaging was developed in collaboration with Joana Ricou (McAnulty College Graduate Student). While the workbook was designed as companion materials to the films and web pages, the workbooks can stand alone. We reviewed numerous resources before developing our curriculum – such as science texts, the project’s tissue engineering movies, the project’s stem cell video games and other SEPA projects (www.ncrrsepa.org). Furthermore, teachers and colleagues read our work and provided useful feedback.

www.sepa.duq.edu

EvaluationWe decided that we should create two outdoor activities for the Sewickley YMCA Camp that can supplement the Dr. Allevable Educational Workbook.

Activity #1Exploring the heart’s pumping action with

buckets of water.

Activity #2Checking your standing heart rate in

comparison to heart rate after jumping rope.

A pre- and post survey paradigm was used to asses the children’s knowledge and interests in the heart.

PRODUCTS The workbook was a huge success with both teachers and students.

RESULTSWe surveyed 26 children. The average age was 14.4 years old. The youngest child was 13 and the oldest was 20. Of this group, 67% were female and 33% were male. Three of the children surveyed had learning disabilities.

On average, 46% of the children enjoyed the activity a lot. 81% of children surveyed felt the speed of the activity was just right. Also, 96% of the children felt that the information presented was about right. When surveyed, 54% of children enjoyed the jump rope activity the most, while 12% enjoyed the heart demonstration using buckets of water. Additionally, 8% of the students surveyed enjoyed checking their pulse the most. After the activities, 96% of children said the heart pumps blood throughout the body, while 23% said the heart gives organs oxygen. Over half of the children said they were somewhat interested in regenerative medicine.

We learned that students with special needs can complete the outdoor activities, they just need a little extra time. We also concluded that we need to make adaptations for learners with special needs.

FUTURE PLANSWe will continue to use pre- post- survey evaluations with patrons of the Carnegie Science Center and will also do direct testing in local schools.

“A Bedtime Science Story,” a movie focusing on immunology and diabetes, is currently in production by the same SEPA team. We will develop new curriculum and educational workbooks for this video.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThank you to all educators and professionals who read our workbook and completed our survey.

Also, a big thanks to our summer team for reviewing our information, testing our activities and giving us feedback and suggestions!

Additional Support was generously provided by the School of Education

workbook survey