Medical students learn a lot from primary schools
Tebogo Jabane (left) and Paul Odgers (right) had their hands full with a barrage of questions from Moe primary school students.
The questions and the oohs, aahs and yuks flew fast and furious last week when Gippsland medical students visited local primary schools for a learning session on how the body works.
At Morwell’s Crinigan Road Primary School, Mitchell Knapp had students trying to suck honey through straws to illustrate how difficult it is for blood to travel through diseased veins, while at Moe’s Albert Street Primary School the questions varied from ‘how do you get a cough (or cold, or asthma, or a stoke)’ through to ‘what causes cancer?’
It was a learning experience for both the primary school students and Gippsland Regional Clinical School students, Mitchell Knapp at Morwell and Tebogo Jabane and Paul Odgers at Moe. The idea behind the visits is to encourage the medical students to consider how to communicate with a young age group, while also encouraging the primary school students to think about how their body works and how to keep it running smoothly.
The Morwell students delighted in the various props Mitchell used in his session, such as straws to illustrate veins, while the questions came thick and fast at Moe for Tebogo and Paul.
Further sessions are being held in other primary schools in Gippsland over the next couple of months. As well as providing great experience for individual students it also raises the profile of the Gippsland Regional Clinical School in the community.