UNK campers get insight into ‘X-Ray Vision’

UNMC College of Allied Health Professions Kearney radiography faculty and students conducted a weeklong “X-Ray Vision Camp” for first- and second-graders June 20-24 as part of the University of Nebraska at Kearney’s PAWS University.

PAWS (Personal Achievement Workshops) U is a curriculum-based summer camp for students entering grades 1 through 6. It serves more than 400 campers in June and introduces young students to opportunities provided through a college education, while also addressing a shortage of summer child care options in the Kearney area.

UNMC’s X-Ray Vision Camp allowed young campers to explore anatomy and medical imaging through books, videos, art projects, movement and radiography-student-led case discussions.

“It allowed radiography students an opportunity to interact and talk about X-ray with a pediatric population outside of clinical rotations, to strengthen their patient education skills,” said Ellie Miller, X-Ray Vision workshop teacher and didactic education coordinator, radiography education.

College of Allied Health Professions faculty and students adapted these lessons so that they were accessible, age-appropriate and,  most of all, fun.

“X-Ray Vision was educational, hands-on and introduced elementary children to the world of radiology,” said PAW University camp director Amy Nebesniak, EdD, UNK associate professor of mathematics.

Campers made spine models with egg cartons, foam paper and pipe cleaners to demonstrate the vertebral bodies, intervertebral discs and spinal cord. They did yoga poses and used their spine models to show how friends’ spines moved with each pose. Paper-sack models demonstrated how lungs work inside the human body. Arm models showed upper extremity long bones and paired skeletal muscles.

Campers informed their radiography-student camp counselors whether particular sample X-rays were part of the cervical, thoracic or lumbar spine — and if it they were taken from the front or from the side.

They learned the differences between X-ray, MRI, CT and Ultrasound. (MRI and CT both look like donuts; CT is X-ray in a circle, and MRI uses “magnet magic.”)

Camp included frequent trips to the Health Science Education Complex, demonstrations and even hands-on turns with the state-of-the-art technology used by radiography professionals and students.

“It was a huge hit with our campers, parents, and PAWS U staff,” Dr. Nebesniak said. “The team of X-Ray Vision teachers have provided us with an example of how we can introduce children to important educational ideas and different careers.”