On February 14, 2001 our seventh grade science class entered the fascinating world of open heart surgery. Surgical Suite is live, open heart surgery, and we were able to see and hear what occurs in the operating room during the surgery and ask questions of the entire surgical team via videoconferencing. The class arrived at the library at 8:15am and for the next four hours witnessed a triple bypass surgery performed on a seventy-five year old woman.

• Prior to the surgery, the class spent about a week preparing the pre-visit activities provided by COSI. The class participated in an activity at the Open Heart web site at http://www.cosi.org/learn1a.html. During this activity the students were familiarized with basic cardiac surgery and general heart anatomy. The most fascinating aspects of this activity included a section that allows students to view, in 3D, a hospital catheterization lab and operating room.

• Another pre-visit activity, the Heart Rate Analysis, afforded the students the opportunity to learn why physical inactivity is a heart disease risk factor. During the "What's for Dinner?" activity, the students learned how to investigate the foods they eat so as to allow for healthy nutrition choices at the Food and Drug Administration web site at http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fdnewlab.html.

• The conference experience began with an overview of heart disease risk factors and a short video of how the patient is prepared for surgery. We then made the connection with Mount Carmel West Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and took a look at their operating room. The operating team was introduced while the patient was prepped for surgery.

• The class witnessed the surgeon making an incision in the skin and fat layers with a scalpel and the cutting through of the sternum with an electric saw. The physician assistant harvested the saphenous vein from the leg while the surgeon collected the internal mammary artery.

• The patient was transitioned to the heart/lung bypass machine and the patient flat lined while the bypass machine took over the job of cardiopulmonary function. All the while, there was a free flow of conversation between the seventh graders and the surgical team. The questions posed by the students were thoughtful and well expressed.

• The surgeon located the blocked arteries and grafted the new vessels into place. The bypass machine warmed the blood and the patient's mended heart began to beat again.

• The pericardium was stitched together and the surgeon closed the sternum by inserting steel wires, twisting them to hold the bone together.

• The class will continue to monitor the patient's progress via the COSI web site for several weeks. The surgeon assured us that the prognosis is good.

• The post-visit activities included a health risk awareness survey and the opportunity to help students understand what it is like to suture during surgery. In the activity "Sew What?" the students work in surgical teams and are assigned the roles of Scrub Nurse, Circulating Nurse and Surgeon. Each of the team members are provided with a list of duties to be performed as a mock surgery, using actual suture kits, is performed on a gel covered skin substitute.

This project implemented by Susan Negro, for the students of Germantown Academy Middle School. Technical assistance and page design furnished by Carol Siwinski, Curricular Technology Specialist.

February, 2001