Since November 2022, the doctoral program ‘Inflammatory Disorders in Pregnancy’ (DP-iDP) has been organizing the science communication project “Communicating DP-iDP” with doctors, midwives and researchers from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The aim of this outreach initiative is to shed light on the background and risks of pregnancy-related illnesses together with students. The main topics are “discovered” and “researched” together with the experts in small knowledge stations.
SciComm
Medizinische Universtät GrazTogether with school classes from grades 5 to 8, the interaction and importance of patient care, basic research and medical intervention in the case of pregnancy-related illnesses is explored in a playful way.
Participating pupils gain a direct insight into the day-to-day work of doctors, midwives and scientists and can experience the subject area in practice. The students also learn about the day-to-day requirements of medical and scientific work and training paths to enter the respective professions. In a concluding video workshop, the impressions of the day are creatively processed together and edited into a short video.
Domenic HofmannPregnancy station
The “Pregnancy station” is dedicated to the aspect of diagnosis and care of diseases during pregnancy (especially gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia) and their health aspects. Together with doctors from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology participating in the project, the medical basics of pregnancy diseases are explained and the importance of preventive health measures, early diagnosis and treatment of these diseases is jointly developed.
The connection to research into diseases during pregnancy is also explained in order to highlight the importance of basic research in this area.
Birth Station
The “Birth station” covers issues relating to medical care during childbirth. Here, together with midwives working in the delivery room of the clinic, the challenges of the aforementioned pregnancy diseases during birth are discussed and worked out.
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Placenta station
The “Placenta station” interactively explains the effects of placental dysfunction and allows pupils to learn about the role of the placenta in pregnancy.
In the perfusion laboratory, pupils learn interesting facts about the connective organ between mother and foetus and its transport functions, especially with regard to what is good or harmful for both mother and child during pregnancy. Subsequently, an experiment is carried out and documented under the guidance of the experts.
Laboratory station
The histological basics of the placenta are discussed in the “Laboratory station”. Basic processes in cells and tissue are illustrated in a simple way.
Using simple experiments in the cell culture laboratory, students work together with the scientists to explore background information on metabolic diseases (such as pre-eclampsia or gestational diabetes) in the placenta. The focus here is also specifically on preventive measures in the development of pregnancy diseases.
The workshop day concludes with a video workshop. Here, the pupils work together with the medical staff and scientists, and furthermore a photographer and video artist; reflecting on the experiences gained during the knowledge stations they creatively design their own short stop-motion videos as a summary of the day.