Gripping levers with middle fingers and thumbs and maneuvering their feet, Coachella Valley math and science teachers tried their hand at surgery on Tuesday - seeing what it would be like to burn wounded flesh with a heated instrument to stop heavy bleeding. A digital screen showed patients' blood-red arteries and tissues.
Another screen in a radiology lab showed the roughly 30 middle and high school teachers what brain vessels and a brain aneurysm look like while a hospital technician answered questions about 3D imaging.
These were not video games. Part of a California initiative known as Project Prototype designed to prepare local students for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) careers, the teachers toured Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs to learn about medical robots and how advanced technology is used in the hospitals. They hoped to take away ideas for class projects and inspiration to encourage their students toward such careers.
'Now we have a better answer to the question, 'Why do we have to learn this?'' said Ron Wallace, a teacher at Raymond Cree Middle School in Palm Springs.
The Project Prototype grant, $500,000 over three years, is focused on biomedical engineering in 2014, said David Polcyn, professor and chair in the College of Natural Sciences at Cal State University San Bernardino. The whole point is to give teachers an idea of job opportunities for their students and to get their students interested in careers in science and engineering - a big deficit nationwide.
This includes the hospital 'externship,' held in two shifts of 15, as part of a week-long summer summit on biomedical engineering and a later three-week module incorporating the ideas into classroom lesson plans.
'They don't realize there's this entire very rich range of occupations that aren't (necessarily) doctors or nurses,' Polcyn said. 'Most teachers and students don't know what's going on at the hospital.
'Hopefully this is a critical exposure.'
The middle and high school teachers looked at a whole range of medical robots, MRIs, surgical stitching wands and respiratory technology, and spoke with health professionals at the hospital about how the equipment works and college requirements for interested students.
Many were excited about what this could mean for their classrooms and - in the long term -for the Coachella Valley's health community. Their kids could one day be those building the device that could transform health care.
'It's real life and it's real time,' said Megan Fri, a sixth-grade math and science teacher moving this year from Coachella Valley Unified to Palm Springs Unified. 'It's not something they're going to read in a book. It's happening right now in their community.'
She said her job is not just teaching students about what's available now but preparing them for the future world of health care - a field of ever-changing devices with increasing digital and telemedicine involvement.
'Science fiction coming to life'
Fri on Tuesday virtually moved medical jacks between three bowels through the remotely-handled da Vinci surgical robot, a 6-foot tall device with three arms that's been in use at Desert Regional for about three years. Doctors say the device is changing the way surgery is done and improving recovery and speed.
Jonathan Smith, (not pictured) a field service technician for Intuitive Surgical explains how the surgical robot 'da the Vinci' works to Becky Kloster of John Glenn Middle School at Desert Regional Medical Center on July 29, 2014. (Photo: J. Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun )
She found it creepy at first and then amazing, saying it exposed her to technologies she might not have seen otherwise. Fri said she could relay Tuesday's experiences to her students to get them excited.
'It is science fiction coming to life,' Polcyn said. 'We're seeing the end products of what scientists and engineers have done.'
Other Project Prototype educators saw applications of things already going on in their math and science classrooms.
Wallace said the collaboration teachers typically try to do in classrooms - pairing hands-on students with the 'brainiacs' who theorize - were visible in the hospital rooms between doctors and a whole ranch of technical support staff.
Emily Doran, a teacher with the Palm Springs Unified School District, said the hospital settings could show students that the same trial-and-error they go through in labs, tests and projects also happens in the real world.
And it could encourage them that there's a path in health care - for people with associate's, bachelor's, master's and Ph. D.'s - that could be fulfilling and provide a solid career.
'One thing we have to do is figure out how to get our kids excited about science, how to actually solve a problem, see how medical professions solve problems,' said Clinton Wyatt, a teacher at Raymond Cree Middle School. 'There's so many more opportunities they can do.'
The grant is a partnership between all three valley school districts (Coachella Valley, Desert Sands and Palm Springs Unified), Cal State San Bernardino, UC Riverside's Bourne School of Engineering, College of the Desert and the WestEd/K-12 Alliance.
Tuesday's robotics tour was also conducted with the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership, a local economic development organization that tries to engage valley youth in career pathways through a variety of programs, scholarships and field trips.
Donna Sturgeon, the work-based learning director for CVEP, said she was excited because education is economic development. This would allow students to feel the excitement and spark from their teachers. Also, biomedical is a growth field for the area.
A hospital is like a small city, and allowing teachers a rare chance to get out of their classrooms and learn more about real-world jobs is essential, she said.
'If we reach 75 teachers, each teacher can reach 125 students (or more),' Sturgeon said.
Desert Sun health care reporter Victoria Pelham can be reached at (760) 778-4649, victoria.pelham@desertsun.com and on Twitter @vpelham.
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