In order to implement more hands on styles of learning, students in Megan Sylverne and Nathania Busse’s anatomy course created fake injuries on their classmates to learn about the way various wounds affect the layers of the human skin.
“They had to create a science where they mimicked a burn or wound, and through that, they learned the integumentary system,” Busse said.
With the application of various substances, the students were able to create realistic lacerations and burns.
“Each group used a variety of materials. Some popular ones included cotton balls, fake blood, glue, food coloring, icing, makeup, coffee grounds, cocoa powder, and other things,” Sylverne said.
Projects are a way for teachers to incorporate collaboration into the lives of their students. Not many students can say that they’ve been able to create gruesome and artificial wounds and burns on their classmates in order to study the integumentary system.
“I really loved doing this project on account of how different it is from other classes I am currently in and have taken in the past,” said junior Mackenna Lavin. “I truly enjoy doing makeup, so being able to apply some of the skills I’ve learned based on blending and colors was super fun. In general, I found it interesting to be able to apply hands on what we have learned from the unit.”
Through viewing their student’s various techniques for completing their projects, Sylverne and Busse were able to give tips or critique their student’s work.
“I just love to see the creativity in both the injury creation and patient file. Students got really into it. What is always tricky as a teacher too is that it can take a lot of time and supplies to do activities like this, and that can take away from other content, but this was definitely worth that extra time and effort,” Sylverne said.