"Pardon me, but I have to report back to my medical clinic on the latest advances in orthopedic research and development, and I was wondering what you had found in your research," says a young lady holding a clipboard and sporting a medical identification badge to someone who appears to be a colleague. One might expect this is a meeting between two residents at the local hospital. But it is actually two students in a Meadow Glade Elementary School (MGES) classroom learning about the skeletal system in a new program on body systems called Code Blue.
For this experience, students were divided into six specialty groups, each of which studied one of the body systems and became experts in their field. After passing their board exams, the new "doctors" returned to their clinics to work with specialists from other body systems. They shared their new knowledge with the other specialists in their clinic, and then they took a physiology test in preparation for their first patient. Given details about a mock patient, they conferenced, using all their cooperative learning skills to assess, diagnose and develop a plan for the patient.
When they came to a conclusion, the students prepared to present their findings to the MGES students, staff, and community at the biennial science fair. When this much-anticipated day arrived, the excited students donned their medical badges and, with business cards in hand that they had created themselves, prepared to meet the attendees.
Maecy Enger, Laura Luther and Nicholas Thornton pose beside the presentation board that details their solution for a patient with severe sunburn.
