3rd Grade Lunch Program

Duke University Medical Students invite Durham 3rd grade classes to participate in a one hour educational program at the Duke University School of Medicine. Thanks to grants from the Albert Schweitzer Foundation, Doing Good in the Neighborhood, and Duke University, we are able to offer these fields trips free to our guests, including a nutritious lunch and round-trip bus transportation! Each school comes for two field trips throughout the year, focused on (1) the cardiovascular system and exercise, and (2) the gastrointestinal system and nutrition.

Each field trip is an hour long starting at noon and ending at 1 pm on a Friday afternoon. It is typically comprised of a short, interactive powerpoint lecture given by one of the medical students as the 3rd graders eat their lunches. Then we break up for the remainder of the time for small group activities led by medical student volunteers, such as learning to take pulses, use a stethescope, or study real pig hearts! We work closely with our local elementary schools to make sure that our curriculum is age appropriate and correlates well with the elementary school learning objectives. Our goals are to nurture interest in the health sciences, teach healthy lifestyle habits, inspire students to pursue higher levels of education and to have fun!