Teaching
with graduate students ,” says Carlson , “ but the visit was completely inspiring . The students were engaged and uninhibited to ask questions and share their thoughts and experiences . Their enthusiasm was infectious ! I left the classroom visit grateful that my kids attend a school where their curiosity is nurtured and their voices are valued .”
After Alicia Haupt , an assistant professor of pediatrics in Pitt ’ s School of Medicine , was introduced by her son , she explained her work with children who require medically complex care . She showed growth charts that track the height and weight of young patients over time and discussed alternative ways to get these patients nutrition , including gastrostomy and gastrojejunostomy tubes . Haupt held up tubing borrowed from her clinic and even passed around a teddy bear with a small gastric port in its belly to demonstrate how small and unobtrusive these tubes can be .
“ Presenting to the students was incredibly rewarding ,” says Haupt . “ I was in awe of their interest and curiosity . It was enjoyable to have such an interactive experience [ in which ] I was able to teach material relevant to their studies and hear all of their thoughtful questions and observations . It meant a lot to me to be able to participate .”
Later in the term , the students were joined by Shelome Gooden , assistant vice chancellor for research in the humanities , arts , social sciences and related fields and professor of linguistics in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences , and Finnegan Calabro , research assistant professor of psychiatry in the School of Medicine and of bioengineering in Pitt ’ s Swanson School of Engineering .
Gooden began by asking the students how they define language . She lit up at one definition that included both soundwaves and signs . That ’ s a great answer , she said , because linguistics incorporates elements of both the natural and social sciences . Comparing how the verb “ walk ” is written in three languages — English , Spanish and Jamaican Creole — Gooden introduced concepts like morphology , phonetics and the social aspects of language . Sharing an audio clip of her son saying his name , she presented a graph of the sounds , explaining how different sounds are made as they exit the throat .
Calabro told the students that his research is basically about them : He investigates the growth and development of the adolescent brain . He asked students to match images of brains to the correct animal . Which is the dolphin brain ? Which belongs to a cat or a monkey ? From there , Calabro pinpointed the areas of the brain responsible for vision , hearing , and other functions , sharing the surprising insight that the brains of all animals are organized in roughly the same way but differ in how much space they allocate to different functions . Calabro described the functioning of neurons and shared slides taken from magnetic resonance imaging of his daughter ’ s brain at age 6 versus another at age 10 .
“ It was great to see how curious and engaged all the students were and [ to hear ] the fantastic questions they all had ,” says Calabro . “[ Because ] we study brain development at around their age , it was fascinating to see how they thought the things we study about how the brain works align with their experiences .”
The parent experts have helped King and Downs to present a fuller and richer picture of the human body , King says , shining a light on both more abstract topics and those so specific that the unit might not otherwise have touched on them .
“ It ’ s difficult to understand the endocrine system at a fifth-grade level ,” says King . “ So Dr . Carlson came in and gave an overview . We ’ ve learned about it , even though no one studied it in depth because it ’ s a little more difficult to understand .”
Presentations like Cisneros ’ or Gooden ’ s , by contrast , addressed topics that might not be central to understanding the human body but about which Downs and King had noticed their students wondering . Downs recounts hearing students ask why their eyes were a certain color . Noting that genetics were among Cisneros ’ interests , the teachers asked if he might speak on that topic .
“ The nice thing about our community here at Falk is that we have experts on a lot of things ,” says King , “ and so to be able to draw on parents ’ expertise [ and have them ] come and talk to the kids is powerful . You ’ ve got an expert here , explaining and answering questions .”
Downs adds , “ Fifth grade is a time when kids begin to crystallize their strengths and their interests . They may not be making career choices yet , but they do start to analyze what they might be interested in . To see familiar adults doing something for a living can make a big impact .”
Hearing more about the research Calabro is doing , for example , or learning about the kinds of cases Haupt encounters is similar to events that bring in parents who are journalists or lawyers , for example , conveying the subtle but strong message that these kinds of careers are an option for the students in the classroom .
22 EN AVANT | 2024 ISSUE