ORION high-speed link facilitates live viewing and real-time questions.
At Dryden High School, Grade 12 Kinesiology students took part in a live open heart surgery, conducted at Mount Carmel West Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Connected through a videoconference link over the ORION Network, the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board students were able to watch and ask questions of the surgeons performing the three-hour surgery.
The live surgery is an initiative offered by the Center of Science and Industry (COSI), a science education centre in Columbus, Ohio.
“I would definitely recommend this opportunity to other teachers,” said Jennifer Koski, Phys. Ed. and Kinesiology teacher at Dryden High School whose Grade 12 class participated in the event. “It was an amazing and uncommon experience for the students. They came away with a more thorough understanding of the body and the surgical process.”
“The class was excited leading up to the surgery since we had just finished learning about the cardiovascular system and we’d spent time exploring the fundamentals of the surgery online. The actual surgery reinforced everything the students had been learning so far and motivated them to learn more,” said Ms. Koski.