Kinesiology students teach anatomy to equity-deserving students in Waterloo region
Waterloo co-op students develop and deliver anatomy workshops
By: Lily Francis (she/her)
University of Waterloo Kinesiology co-op students Megan Davitsky and Kaija Donaldson used innovation and creativity to teach workshops about anatomy to equity-deserving students.
During their winter 2023 co-op term, Davitsky (she/her) and Donaldson (she/her) created, developed and taught students about the human body.
The University of Waterloo’s School of Anatomy, under the department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, provides its students with hands-on, in-depth knowledge of human anatomy.
Megan Davitsky, Kinesiology student
Normally, co-op students working in the school assist with labs. Davitsky and Donaldson went a step further.
Kaija Donaldson, Kinesiology student
“The goal was to create an educational experience for students in our community. We specifically wanted to provide it at no cost, or little cost, to schools in lower-income districts,” says Donaldson.
“This co-op term taught me how to have an innovative mindset when going out to schools and dealing with conflict to ensure our program runs smoothly.”
According to Tamara Maciel, program director at the School of Anatomy, Davitsky and Donaldson developed the program from scratch.
“They created the plan, drafted the descriptions and figured out what materials were required,” said Maciel. Most of the time, they went out to the workshops and ran them without much, if any, input required from Maciel.
Learning from hands-on experience
Davitsky and Donaldson developed a workshop for elementary students that guided them to create a model of the bones and tendons of the hand. Students learned how muscles pull on bones to create movement.
They also developed a bone mapping workshop for high school students that asked students to assemble a human skeleton using artificial bones.
“I learned something new every single day, which gave me a good foundation and appreciation of human anatomy. And I got to share with the KW community,” says Davitsky, who plans to pursue a career in medicine. “Our main priority was to make the experience as fun and educational as possible,” says Donaldson.
Strong communication and innovation skills
Co-op students are also helping with the School of Anatomy's partnership with the University’s Sustainability Office to launch a lab coat rental program. The program's goal is to offset costs and waste by encouraging the reuse, reduction and recycling of lab coats. According to Maciel, these large-scale tasks would not be possible without extra help from co-op students.
It has been my absolute pleasure to work with and mentor co-op students. They bring a fresh set of eyes and a new level of energy to all the work that we do.
Following the development of workshops, Maciel, along with the assistance of Waterloo’s Marketing and Undergraduate Recruitment office, plans to continue to make outreach programs with kindergarten to Grade 12 schools' part of the co-op program.
Davitsky and Donaldson returned to their roles in their fall 2023 co-op work term to help with the new projects and more workshops. The School of Anatomy looks for co-op students with strong communication, innovation and problem-solving skills. Although not required, co-op students may benefit from having previous teaching or tutoring experience.