Science Is Fun When the Heart Is in It

The small specimens drew squeals, shouts and giggles from the 30 students in Kristine McManus’ fifth-grade class Monday as they donned rubber gloves to examine pigs’ hearts.

The science lesson at Jefferson Elementary School was part of an educational program begun this year in conjunction with UC Irvine to send medical students to fifth-grade classrooms.

“Student to Student,” taking place on eight Santa Ana Unified School District campuses, is meant to spark interest among minority groups such as Latinos and Southeast Asians, who are underrepresented in university medical programs, second-year student Mike Adams said.

“No matter what background they come from,” he said, “if they have the interest and the effort, they can be doctors.”

Some students did express a desire to go into medicine after sessions with Adams and fellow medical student Mike Severson.

“I think it’s fun,” said Crystal Castro, 11.

Monday’s lesson, with its focus on the heart and lungs, lasted about an hour. A previous lesson focusing on the skeletal system allowed students to examine human bones.

As part of Monday’s session, students used a stethoscope on each other and checked pulse rates before and after doing some jumping jacks.

Students also were warned that smoking, drugs and fatty foods can damage their hearts.

But the high point clearly was passing around two pigs’ hearts, which children could examine and probe.

Youngsters said the biggest surprise was that the heart is not a solid organ; rather, it contains arteries, muscles and tendons that looked like strings, and chambers called ventricles that pump blood. (Many referred to the chambers as “holes.”)

The pig’s heart, similar to its human counterpart, was also a bit slippery, the students observed, but that didn’t bother Everardo Alvira, 10.

“It was slimy,” he said, “but it felt good.”