Students of Provo Middle School embarked on a truly inspirational and thought provoking field trip to the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre last week. We wanted to see how our biology learning about cells applied to the real-life context of medical care. We were treated to an exceptional all-access visit to the histology, pathology and micro-biology labs at the hospital on Provo.
Children learned how doctors receive tissue samples from all patients who undergo any surgical procedures in order to confirm diagnoses or test the outcomes of previous care. Everything from human organs to skin and other tissue is tested and prepared for study under the microscope in the histology labs. The work done in this lab not only helps to save lives, by identifying the cause of illnesses on a cellular level, but could also be used to explain how or why a person may have died.
Students then followed the slides into the office of a Doctor of pathology. Here, we were amazed to see how it was possible to study individual cells and see the cause and effects of different diseases. Children were able to look at healthy vs cancerous cells as well as seeing how doctors can study a human fetus to help a family conceive a healthy baby.
Not only was the knowledge and skill of the doctors amazing – so too was the equipment they were skilled at using. We have made some quite amazing slides in class, but they were nothing like this!
Finally, we visited the Micro-Biology labs where all possible viruses, fungal infections and bacteria are studied. Each micro organism is identified by growing samples on slides for study and testing. Some of them looked and smelled terrible – we were so thankful for the skill of these people in finding ways to combat these illnesses!
One of our students even volunteered to have her blood type identified by having her finger pricked and watching as her sample was tested.
It certainly was a full morning of eye-opening and jaw-dropping learning and we would like to pass on a HUGE thank you to all the staff members who welcomed and informed us.
Take a look at the photos of our trip!
And here are some of the cell samples that we were able to gather in our school biology classes.
