Department of Physical Therapy Education faculty, staff and students visited R. Homer Andrews Elementary School in Alamance County and Raskis Elementary School in Orange County to talk with students about the importance of the human skeleton.
Associate professor Janet Cope and laboratory coordinator Stewart Holt, accompanied by students Michelle Cusack, Margret Gardner, Aislinn Hundley, Erin Leonard, Josh Locke, Katie Reynolds, David Sutton, Weston Wise, Sara Prokup, Nicki Grates, Sara Galligan, and Christine Herzog, had the third graders assemble complete skeletons in small groups while discussing the various bones and joints in the human body.
This program was funded, in part, by an Elon University Community Partnership Initiative Grant. Elon University DPTE students and faculty are partnering with Stacy Thurm, a physical therapist in the Alamance County School System and community science teachers, to increase community awareness around various health topics.
The elementary school students assembled skeletons, identified major joint systems and enjoyed passing around some of Cope’s collection of human bones. Holt and the DPTE students discussed the roles of the skeleton, how bones are formed, and how to keep bones healthy through diet and exercise.
The CPI grant will allow for more of these visits to other local elementary and middle schools encouraging participation in the arts and sciences, and offer first year DPTE students exposure and experience communicating physical therapy topics to a younger population.