ANAHEIM : Hoping Kids Take Science to Heart

It’s hoped that a new program making the rounds of county schools will produce some future scientists by letting elementary students listen to their own heartbeats and those of animals.

Heart Beats premiered Thursday at Jonas Salk Elementary School, where 30 fifth-graders took turns using a stethoscope and learned how the heart powers the body.

They listened to their heartbeats, at rest and after exercise, and to the heartbeats of a chicken and a snake.

It’s part of the Science Jamboree on Wheels, an education program sponsored by the nonprofit Discover Science Center in Costa Mesa. The program aims to educate students about their bodies and how to stay healthy.

More importantly, it hopes to interest elementary students in science, according to Bill D’Angelo, the program’s spokesman.

“We want them to grow up to become scientists, and have fun while doing that,” D’Angelo said.

In addition to tuning it their hearts, students “dissected” a seven-foot doll, whose chest unzips to reveal fabric replicas of the lungs, intestines and other internal organs.

Donna Wirfs of Discovery Science Center guided the students during the 45-minute medical examination of Stuffee, the anatomical doll. The doll was brought into the classroom in a wheelchair by technicians in white coats.

The demonstration for Susan Bock’s fifth-grade class will be repeated in other schools around the county in the coming months, D’Angelo said.