In formulating a curriculum for high school anatomy in the Charlotte Mason style of education, I knew I wanted to set forth an idea for learning that embraced a fascination-first, let’s-get-to-the-good-stuff approach to science. Miss Mason said, “Where science does not teach a child to wonder and admire it has perhaps no educative value.”- (Philosophy of Education, Vol. 6, p. 22). That being the goal, I was faced with a two-fold challenge in presenting a modern, fully engaging, yet robust Anatomy course. One, that the field of human biology is vast, recalling the all-nighters from my nursing school anatomy class in 1994, just me and the vending machine in my dorm hallway, memorizing pages and pages of complex facts for the exams. The usual scope of fact-coverage in anatomy courses is so voluminous, that is really leaves no room for…stories. And that will not do here. So how should this domain be approached on the high school level? Just how much does a student need to know by the end of a high school anatomy course? In the end, I decided to approach it with bravery, knowing that addressing how much they care (thank you, Charlotte), would carry a student much farther than a tour-de-force, fire-hose approach as an early experience with this amazing science.
The second challenge in constructing a course of this type was regarding the style of lessons. I considered where anatomy fit into the known subjects written about by Miss Mason. In the case of the human body, is not much of the ongoing learning akin to learning a complex map? Certainly, it is also a science, and the study of medicine, physiology, microbiology, and pathophysiology are natural layers in this course. So, the methodologies for the lessons are loosely modeled after Mason-like geography and science.
It should come as no surprise for anyone who is familiar with the Mason style, that the stories in the “living books” take center stage in this curriculum. Each week of learning sets aside one day for the reading of curated stories from medicine in selected texts. Thus, a student with virtually no knowledge in medicine (yet) can find herself in the midst of a complex brain surgery on any given Tuesday. (Space is provided in the student notebook for written narrations and diagrams). Another day each week is set aside for a “free read” that may be chosen from the suggested list (or another book may be chosen that suits the student’s particular interest). Two days a week are used to study the “textbook”, which, in this first edition, is recommended to be Anatomage Lessons, a 3D software program available for subscription online. There are multiple other options for the science text, some of which are open-source online. In order to curtail the potential for a frustration with dry textbook learning, I recommend that students study the Anatomage (or other textbook) lessons based on timed blocks during those two days per week, rather than trying to finish a certain number of lessons. But what if they get behind? You may ask. Well, in this case, what is “behind”? With such a formidable body of knowledge, what can be reasonably expected in just thirty weeks of study? The experience of gaining familiarity and a relationship with medicine and the human body is the work in this class. I do suggest moving on to the next block of body systems at the end of each six-week session of study, regardless of how far the student has gotten in the lessons. It will be ok. Promise.
In addition to the four days of reading per week, one day is set aside for labs. These are designed to be done in a group setting, such as a co-op, but they also could be done at home. The Stories from Medicine Instructor’s Lab Manual will be required to facilitate the labs. Students will experience three types of labs in this course: dramatic narration, medical skill acquisition, and what I'm calling bio-map work. In dramatic narration, the labs are informed by the stories the students have read. For instance, they will attempt to reconstruct a bone as was reportedly performed on King Darius’ ankle and recreate an accurate map of injury by using President Kennedy’s autopsy report. In skill labs, students will learn hands-on skills like suturing and vital sign assessment. Dissections, histologic slide diagrams and creative review of diagrams comprise the bio-map lab aspect of learning. If students complete a lab with time left over, the instructor may read some of the next day’s assignment aloud and have the students to verbally narrate in small groups. Please note, the suggested labs can be optional for this course. Additional bio-map work can replace the creative narration and skill labs. Suggestions for those types of activities are contained in the student notebook.
A word about mature content – although I myself adhere to a Christian Theistic worldview, the content in the selected living books is not perfectly sanitized or necessarily Christian. I have attempted to indicate which books and sections contain mature content, and each parent will have to determine on their own what is right for their student given their current maturity. Ultimately, I found that in order to provide fascinating modern-medicine stories, a certain level of stark reality and other perspectives had to be tolerated, if not embraced. Certainly, as a nurse of 26 years myself, my work is far from pretty as a general rule. It is my reality, and if a student decides to go into medicine in any capacity, it will be theirs.
So, welcome to a new way to approach a high school science course. If you are brave enough to support a story-first method, you are in the right place. Now let’s get to the good stuff.
Nurse Holly