Health Quests

Overview
In the activity, students visit Web sites that provide text and visual information about the field of medical illustration. Information found at the sites includes job qualifications, hiring demographics, salary expectations, and examples of work done. Using the information gathered, students complete a career profile, which may then be shared as part of a health career day.

Objectives

• To gain information provided at sites on the World Wide Web about the field of medical illustration, including the rewards of employment in this area of art.
• To assimilate visual and text information into a profile.

Getting Started
If students are using a print health program that contains medical illustrations, have them turn to an example that demonstrates a process or exemplifies a complex piece of human anatomy. (If you are using Glencoe Health, note that such examples may be found on pages 365 and 366, which show the path of a nerve impulse and the parts of the nervous system.) After noting that these works are illustrations, ask students to think of reasons why these drawings were included. Ask: Could the same information have been provided by including photographs? Why or why not? Use the discussion as a bridge to the subject of medical illustration. Allow ample time for students to speculate on the types of special preparation that might be necessary to a career in this field. Afterward, inform students that they will be logging on to Web sites that provide some insights into the aspects of a career in this area.

Classroom Follow-up
Direct students to include information gathered through this activity in a careers resource folder, possibly located in a folder in the classroom computer. If you have assigned or are planning to assign any of the other on-line activities that involve health careers (for example, medical technology, sports medicine, school nutritionist), you may wish to have interested students work cooperatively to set up a Health Careers Day in the classroom. Encourage students to invite members of other classes and faculty members. If presentation software is installed on the classroom computer, information on these and other health careers might be shared by means of a slide program or multimedia presentation.