Fifth grade students recently learned about their own hearts and the human circulatory system during a “clinic hour” hosted by high school anatomy and physiology students.

The A&P students had created a heart model earlier in class to demonstrate how the heart regulates the blood flow and circulation through the human body, explains teacher Claudia Fencer. They also learned how to use a stethoscope to measure cardiac sounds and frequency, and to take each others’ blood pressure.

In the “clinic” with the fifth grade students, the older students explained their pulse, heart frequency and circulation using the heart model and stethoscope.

“Explaining the system in simple terms to younger students is a great way to reinforce concepts we covered in class,” says Ms. Fencer, who earned her veterinary degree from the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña in in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Fencer, who also teaches AP Biology, practiced as a veterinarian and was a surgery instructor for seven years in the DR which is where she “fell in love with teaching,” she says, and made the transition to education. She has taught in private schools in Richmond, Virginia, and Chiang Mai, Thailand. She earned her International Baccalaureate Certification at Bethel University, in Bethel Minnesota.

The following week, the students hosted another circulatory system clinic with the sixth grade class, and then moved on to learn about the respiratory system where they dissected deer lungs and tested their breathing volume with balloons.