July 25, 2016
Blog by Junior Medical Camp Staff
Fresh sheep hearts, brains, cow eyeballs, pig lungs, leeches and parasite-positive fecal samples. These are not props in a creepy movie scene. They top the shopping list of a
Junior Medical Camp instructor.
Each year, Museum educators head to the West Side Market, visit a local animal shelter and pet supply store, and connect online with medical suppliers to gather fresh organs, live animals such as leeches and goldfish, microbial slides and other lab materials. Students enrolled in the weeklong camps conduct hands-on experiments using these specimens. Acquiring fresh organs takes extra time, but the benefit is worth the effort.
According to
Distance Learning Coordinator and JMC Instructor Lee Gambol, fresh cow eyes are superior over chemically preserved cow eyes for dissection. She explains, “The preservation process clouds the lenses and stiffens tissues, preventing our young campers from thoroughly appreciating the amazingly delicate eye structures.” Fresh sheep hearts are not toughened or stiff like chemically preserved hearts where their proteins have been denatured by preservatives. “Allowing campers to compare the tissue textures of fresh versus preserved specimens gives them a better concept of the challenges of surgery.”
The “gross factor” creates excitement and captures the children’s attention. It also generates interesting commentary from participants...
“Oh, wow, the fresh heart is so slimy!”
“That is the grossest but coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“I can’t believe we have to eat lunch after this lab.”
“I totally want to be a doctor now!”
Visit
cmnh.org/summer-camps to learn more about the Museum's selection of high-quality science and nature camps for children in grades 1 through 12. While this summer's camps are full, 2017's registration window will be here before you know it!
Museum members get early registration access in late January. Public registration opens one week later. Mark your calendar and sign up your kiddos for strange, slimy, spectacular science!
Go back to all blogs