STEM Academy at LEE High School Director Jennifer Jensen was thrilled when she received a NEEF grant for $78,000 last year. With the funds, she bought an Anatomage table, which is a six-foot-long digital operating table that is loaded with scans of four real cadavers. The table can also stand upright, so the entire classroom can be taught lessons in pathophysiology, introductory biology, and anatomy/physiology. It includes additional MRI’s, specimens that have pathologies, and case studies that students can engage in the classroom learning environment. Now, instead of traditional dissection equipment, students get an in-depth look at real cadavers. Students can begin their examination of the outer skin layer and virtually peel away layers to the organs, bone structure, all the way down to the cellular level.
“This was a pie in the sky dream for us,” stated Jennifer Jensen. Jennifer Jensen mentioned, “We are very excited to have this on board, impacting the lives of everyone who is coming to our program, because they are all getting to experience this machine.” She included that the students’ reactions when they encountered the table were wonder and curiosity, which is exactly what students need to excel in any STEM curriculum. With the exposure to this technology, students are “ahead of the curve” and are better prepared for college or their future career.
Chas Knapik, “We went organ by organ, system by system, seeing how they are all interconnected and interlaced.”
