Cyber-lives were saved during the
CyberSurgeons operation at
Darnell-Cookman Middle/High School. The seventh- and eighth-graders took part in this video conference workshop, connecting with a "chief medical officer," played by a professor from the Challenger Learning Center at Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, West Virginia.
Students were divided into four teams during their mission. They became part of the fictitious
CyberSurgeons remote trauma unit on a simulated mercy ship, equipped with a high-tech hospital and medical research capabilities. As they traveled up the Amazon River, the students received alerts from research stations located in different ports. The teams were tasked with analyzing, diagnosing and treating various maladies in these patients. The chief medical officer would alert the students if an emergency case came through, which became the class's top priority.
Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals stopped by the lab to assist the students with their mission and congratulate them on their hard work thus far in the school year. Hands-on medical experiences such as this are hard to find at the middle school level. Most students don't receive these kinds of unique opportunities until they reach medical school.
Dr. Miren Schinco, UF & Shands Jacksonville's Medical Director of critical care and associate professor at the University of Florida's College of Medicine, also joined the team as they embarked on this medical mission. She was available to assist the students with any questions or concerns they had during the operation. Principal Mark Ertel was extremely grateful to Dr. Schinco for joining hands with Darnell-Cookman in giving these students these medical experiences as they continue on in their education.
The CyberSurgeons program provides an authentic way for students to apply science and medical knowledge and skills to real-life situations. The mission curriculum is based on national and state science standards related to human body systems and the disease process. Thank you to Superintendent Pratt-Dannals, UF & Shands Jacksonville and Wheeling Jesuit University's Challenger Learning Center for making this video conference possible.
To view pictures from the CyberSurgeons video conference, visit the
DCPS' Flickr photostream.
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