Dentistry provides anatomy lessons to 700 high school students

Stanton Harn, Ph.D., UNMC College of Dentistry, with high school students from Ord, Elba, Wolbach, and Pawnee City. Photo by Peggy Cain, UNMC College of Dentistry.

Stanton Harn, Ph.D., has been providing educational experiences for Nebraska high school students for so long that many have become students in his UNMC College of Dentistry classes. For the past 25 years, students taking anatomy and physiology classes have traveled to the UNMC College of Dentistry to add another dimension to their learning by viewing human cadavers.

Already, more than 700 Nebraska high school students from 24 schools have received educational demonstrations this year from first-year dental students on various aspects of general anatomy and physiology.

“This offers students an opportunity to see human specimens and learn about areas of the body they may not normally have the opportunity to see,” said Dr. Harn, professor of oral biology, who shows students four, 12-minute demonstrations about various parts of the body. “We are impacting a lot of high schools in a lot of towns.”

Valuable experience

Freshman dental student, Anne Johnson (while coat), was one 40 dental students who helped provide anatomy lessons to high school students. Lincoln High School students from left to right are: Matt Darrington, Xuyen Doan, and Ahmad Alhajami. Photo by Peggy Cain, UNMC College of Dentistry.

Carol E. Eischeid of Boone Central in Albion, Neb., said the experience is a valuable lesson for students and teachers. “As teachers, we can only use overheads, videos, and pictures to show the students the parts of the human body that we study. During the tour, the students can actually see the structures and their relationship to other parts of the body. My students were impressed by the facilities, the presenters, and by the specimens they were allowed to see.”

“The lab was wonderful,” said one student from Falls City High School. “I enjoyed seeing the cancer on the lungs because my life goal and dream is to cure cancer. Everything shown to us was amazing.”

Enhancing textbook knowledge

Nearly 20 students from Grand Island Central Catholic High School’s advanced human biology class took part in one of the recent visits to the UNMC College of Dentistry.

Students from Lincoln High School listen to a presentation about human anatomy. From left to right are: Megan Ksionzek, Renee Krenk, Miranda Freeman, Jennifer Simpson, and Eric Ross. Photo by Peggy Cain, UNMC College of Dentistry.

“As a teacher of an advanced placement biology course, I was very happy for students to have an opportunity to view some of the actual anatomy which we had been studying all year,” said Vallie M. Crosby, a teacher at Grand Island Central Catholic High School. “Pictures, diagrams and discussion can give basic understanding, but to actually view the structure and organs in the body allows students to understand the actual design of the human body.”

Opening career doors

She said students were very positive about this experience.

“For those students who anticipate entering the medical profession, it was a chance to experience what is in store in continuing their education,” Crosby said. “For some students this brought home that perhaps medicine is not for them. Others who had not been thinking about the medical profession as a career found that it was fascinating and sparked an interest in studying medicine. One young woman was enthralled. Her entire face during the experience showed that she had possibly discovered her passion in life.”