FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 29, 2007
APS Contact
Mel Limson
Office: (301) 634-7231
mlimson@the-aps.org
www.The-APS.org
 Putting
the ‘PhUn’ in Physiology
BETHESDA, Md.
− Teacher Margaret Shain saw flashes of insight cross the faces of her 8th
grade science students last year during PhUn (Physiology Understanding)
Week, the annual event that brings physiologists and physiology experiments
into K-12 classrooms.
The visiting University of Louisville scientist passed
around some of her microsurgery equipment as she told the students at Our
Lady of Perpetual Help School in New Albany, Indiana about her work. She
communicated her genuine enthusiasm, recalled Shain, and taught them,
without actually saying it: ‘You could be doing the work that I do.’
The year before, when these same students were asked to
draw a scientist, they drew eccentric looking men in white lab coats, mixing
smoking solutions as they worked alone. Her students warmed to the woman who
told them about the team of people she works with in her laboratory and how
she travels to conferences to exchange ideas with other scientists doing
similar work.
“They started a dialogue with her,” Shain said. They
asked her how she got interested in the work and what she had to do to
become a research scientist. Many students assume they are not smart enough
to be scientists, Shain said, but “once they started that dialogue, you
could see the light bulbs going off in kids’ heads: ‘I don’t have to be
super smart’.
PhUn Week Lesson One: Physiology is interesting. PhUn
Week Lesson Two: I could be a physiologist. Margaret Shain’s class: Done and
done.
PhUn for students,
teachers, physiologists
PhUn Week, a program of
The American Physiological Society (APS), will spell fun for local
students, teachers, and physiologists again when it begins November 5. More
than 100 APS member physiologists in 24 states and Puerto Rico will help
3,000 K-12 students see firsthand how the body responds to exercise.
Teachers and physiologists work together ahead of time to plan activities
that will help students see how their bodies work.
The
APS (www.The-APS.org)
is a scientific organization with 11,000 members founded in 1887.
Physiology is the study of how our bodies work, from the molecules and
cells, to the organs and systems, and how they function in health and
disease. The APS has been an integral part of the scientific discovery
process.
As part of PhUn Week, physiologists visit the
classrooms of local teachers to do hands-on physiology activities with the
students. The program gives students a chance to meet and learn from
research scientists, learn about physiology in their daily lives, and
explore physiology as a possible career. It also builds local partnerships
between science teachers and scientists to provide new materials for
teachers and give researchers a chance to reach out to the next generation
of scientists.
PhUn Week is fun for teachers. Teachers
collaborate with a local APS member who works with their students in their
schools. The teachers and physiologists can download activities and
instructional materials from the PhUn Week website at www.PhUnWeek.org.
These engaging activities have been developed and tested by teachers in APS
fellowship programs, meet national curriculum standards and are available on
the web at
www.phunweek.org/pages/phun02a.shtml.
PhUn Week is fun for students. The students
spend time with physiologists learning how their bodies function and how
medical discoveries are made. Students learn about the cardiovascular system
by seeing how their own hearts respond as they sit or stand. They explore
muscle reactions by seeing how their own muscles react to sustained and
intermittent contractions. And they explore lung volume by exhaling into a
balloon under various conditions. These face-to-face encounters that
students have with scientists may also inspire future generations of
physiologists.
PhUn Week is fun for physiologists.
Physiologists step outside their laboratories and universities, share their
knowledge of how the body works and perhaps inspire a student to follow in
their footsteps.
PhUn Week is being highlighted by the Boston
Children’s Museum with an all-day event on Saturday, November 3. Classroom
visits across the nation continue throughout the rest of the week.
ADInstruments, a provider of computer-based data acquisition and analysis
systems for the life sciences, has generously loaned instruments for events
in Missouri and South Dakota.
Note to Editors: If you would like to interview
a physiologist or teacher involved in PhUn Week 2007 or if you would like to
find out if a school in your area is participating, please contact Mel
Limson at (301) 634-7231 or at
mlimson@the-aps.org.
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