Grade 3 Mustangs ended Valentine’s week with a day dedicated to the heart – Cardiology Day! This day was a total surprise for the students and featured “surgery” rotations, white coat ceremonies, and a visit from an MVXpert.
When students arrived at school on Thursday they were given patient files and sent off on their “rounds.” They spent the day traveling to various “operating rooms” where they put words together with contraction surgery, diagnosed patients based on case files, used fractions to decipher x-rays, and more!
They learned about the heart – integrated with other course subjects – took an entrance exam, and were rewarded with their white coats.
MVXpert Kristen Cranmer joined the learners to share her knowledge about health, hospitals, medicine, germs, and all things healthcare. Now in a nursing leadership role at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Kristen was a nurse for 15 years and spent nine years as a pediatric nurse practitioner.
When she heard that Grade 3 was planning a Cardiology Day, she immediately reached out to offer her services. To complement what students were learning about the heart, she began by sharing a few fun facts like hearts are the size of your fist, women’s hearts typically beat faster than men’s hearts, and your heart pumps 2,400 gallons of blood a day!
Together, Kristen taught the learners how to find their pulse using two fingers, finding both their carotid and radial arteries. They even got to use stethoscopes to listen to their classmates’ hearts!
Exploring resting heart rates, students counted their heart beats, did 25 jumping jacks, then counted their active heart beats, which Kristen said was the most fun activity. Collaborating across disciplines, the students ended their experience with a math worksheet, teaching them to calculate the number of times their heart beats per hour, per day, and even per year.
“I love any opportunity to invest in MV students! I appreciated the opportunity to come on site and teach them about the heart,” Kristen shared.
Learn more about becoming an MVXpert or sign up to share your talents with Mustangs here.
