March 3, 1999
'Dr. Feelgood' teaches anatomy
By Garret Leiva
Herald staff writer
It is after two o'clock on Thursday afternoon and Bill Peters is standing in front of a gymnasium full of students with 20 feet of intestines in his hands. The group of kindergartners through second graders scream with delight.
Proving that education through entertainment doesn't have to be boring, Peters (a.k.a. "Dr. G. I. Feelgood") gave the entire student body at East Bay Elementary School a lesson in human anatomy there unlikely to forget.
Of course, that is the whole point of poking and prodding a foam rubber brain and ripping out intestines.
"I just don't stand there and talk to them. We have a lot of laughs and joke back and forth," said Peters, who travels around the country giving his presentation, "Parts is Parts, All About Us" on the human anatomy.
The star of the show, presented by Mobile Ed Productions of Redford, Mich., is A.D.A.M. - the Anatomically Detailed Automated Mannequin. Built by modelers, A.D.A.M. is a anatomically human-like robot that resembles "Ernie" from "Sesame Street" wearing striped boxer shorts.
Exploring the human body by exposing A.D.A.M.'s Velcroed cranium and stomach lining, Peters demonstrates the digestive, nervous, skeletal and respiratory systems.
The mannequin, however, doesn't dummy up during these demonstrations.
Wired for sound and movement, A.D.A.M.'s eyes light up when his arm is opened to expose muscles and bones. When "Dr. Feelgood" probes his brain, lights flash off and on in sync with the other nerves in the body. All of which are met with a crescendo chorus of "ooh's" and "ahh's" and the occasional "yuck."
The sound is music to the ears of educators like fourth-grade teacher Linda Thompson.
"This type of demonstration brings learning to a different level. Students see things that they are unable to get from a textbook," said Thompson, who noted that Thursday's demonstration tied in with the school's human health program.
Students did more than merely hypothesize how the human body worked. Instead they worked their own bodies.
Volunteers squeezed hands to show how synapses fire and felt first-hand how muscles move by doing the "Twist" with "Dr. Feelgood" and his skinny skeletal assistant "Mr. Bones."
While kids couldn't stop laughing when "Dr. Feelgood" tickled their funny bone, they also couldn't cease learning.
"We get kind of silly," admitted Peters, who squirted students with farewell tears from A.D.A.M.'s tear ducts. "They listen to the fun parts but they can't help but pay attention to the academic parts as well."