Science camp leader teaching blood is blue. Argh.

[Pegasus]

DD8 attended a science camp at a local community college this week. She enjoyed it tremendously and the leader seemed very enthusiastic and was great with kids. BUT. . .I overheard her coaching her two college-age assistants before camp started one day on blood "facts" such as how kids usually think blood is red but it really isn't. Blood is blue when it is in the human body and only turns red if it hits air outside the body. I didn't feel it was appropriate for me to interrupt so I kept quiet. Later, after I picked DD8 up after camp, she described how they were taught that blood is blue, not red. The kids who parroted back that blood was blue were actually praised as being much smarter than kids from a previous class who thought that blood was red.

 

ACK! I guess it wouldn't bother me much at all if, say, an art teacher mentioned offhand that blood was blue. However, to have someone instructing kids in science to teach them this misconception really bothers me. I tried to explain to DD8 that blood inside the body that is fully oxygenated is a bright red and blood inside the body that is oxygen-depleted is actually a dark purplish red. It isn't really ever BLUE. I finished by telling her to talk it over with her aunt, who is a nurse, for confirmation. :tongue_smilie:

 

I went back and forth on whether to approach the camp leader and even printed off some information from a university website to share with her but didn't end up saying anything to her at all. Pegasus is a chicken. ;)

 

Would you have squawked?

Pegasus

[gardening momma]

I actually didn't know until your post...when I was a kid I didn't hear that blood was blue, it was later...then I assumed it was true. I had heard the same thing about it not turning red until it is exposed to oxygen, which I assumed it didn't get inside the body. I just don't know enough about science, and my oldest is 4.5, so we haven't gotten to that stuff yet.

 

If I were you, I'd write a very polite, gracious letter to the person, briefly explaining what color blood really is inside the body, and give some sources.

[Jenny in Atl]

Yup, I would have opened my big mouth... It gets me into trouble often. :tongue_smilie:

[Ailaena]

I have been in a similar situation twice before. The first time, my big mouth and I just sort of went way too far... I actually did interrupt the teacher and it was not very nice of me:blushing: The second time, I felt I had learned from the first experience, and I wrote a letter that included a packet of information from various sources about the subject. The sad thing was that the teacher to whom I wrote the letter was apparently in the middle of a million things going wrong in her life, and I literally never saw her again.

 

Now, if dd comes home from somewhere with some misguided information, I use it as an excuse to make her find out as much as possible about the topic so that she is informed!! Im so mean :lol:

[Julie in Austin]

Who is the boss here? I'd find him or her and let 'em know.

[Remudamom]

Bet your booters I'd squawk.

[julesmama3]

I've always heard the whole blue thing too. Why do the veins look blue anyway?

[Tarheel Heather]

Veinous blood is a deep purply color, arterial blood, having oxygen is bright red. Whether it is in or outside of the body it is same color. It depends on whether it is arterial or veinous.

 

The veins are blue because that is the color of the tissue. And I would have said something!

[julesmama3]

Thanks Heather! How come I didn't know this? I took Anatomy in college, you would have thought I would have learned it there. Or its very possible that I've forgotten.

[Tammyla]

I'd be upset and squawking away. Speak to someone the next time you're there or e-mail them.

[Tarheel Heather]

Thanks Heather! How come I didn't know this? I took Anatomy in college, you would have thought I would have learned it there. Or its very possible that I've forgotten.

 

 

My specialty is blood and all sorts of other misc. fluids. I have starred at those boogery cells many a night.

 

I would dream about test and results and troubleshooting instruments!

[Ravin]

I would have interceded at the point I overhead the instructor with the college students, gone up to her, and told her she was giving out false information. I would insist upon seeing her research sources, and if she couldn't present them on the spot, I would have gone immediately to the director of the camp (or whoever was over this woman's head), and demanded they correct her, unless they wanted to give everyone's money back, because this was an educational science camp and they were supposed to be teaching facts, not wives' tales.

 

I've been known to correct professors in the middle of class and last time we were at the science center here I corrected a presenter a couple of times. In her case it was a matter of a verbal flub, not actually believing wrong info, though.

 

In short, my ire would have been felt. I detest ignorance, especially when people are transmitting it to the young, especially MY young. Part of why I homeschool. :D

 

At the point you're at now, I'd go to this woman's boss and complain, in person, and demand corrective action be taken (such as an apology and public correction of her error on the part of the instructor, perhaps with a letter to parents apologizing on behalf of the instructor and the camp), or else a discount or money back because your child wasn't there to be fed misinformation.

[Laurie4b]

No, I would not have squawked. I would have taught dc correctly, and then politely the next day said, "My dc came home and told me that they were taught that blood is blue. I'm wondering about the source of that info since my sources of x,y, and z say that it is actually bright red in the arteries, and a deep purplish blue from the veins." (When you get blood drawn, it's coming directly from the vein, through the tubes, no O2. You can see it's a deep, burgandy or purplish color. It's not blue.)

 

I would keep it low-key and friendly. The instructor was passing on info that she had been taught. It's a mistake, that's all and should be treated like a mistake. Assume that she'd want to "learn something new every day."

 

If you think that in general there is incorrect info being taught (ie this wasn't the only thing), then, I'd write a letter to the director of the camp. Otherwise, no.

[Peek a Boo]

I'm kinda between Ravin and Laurie --but I definitely would have brought it up. Probably lighthearted at first, but ready to launch into more if needed ;)