Recently I subbed in a 5th grade classroom and I was shocked to learn that the teachers at this grade level were instructing their students that the blood inside our bodies is blue! Not true, not true, I say....and said so when the entire grade level was together to view a video on the circulatory system. Everyone (teachers included) looked at me in disbelief when I gasped, "What?" when a student answered that blood is blue and the teacher said, "That's correct". Now let's be clear about this....I am not a doctor but I am a teacher and have been for 31 years. I have taught the circulatory system for many years and I have read about it in numerous publications. Contrary to popular belief, your blood is not blue inside your body and it does not turn red when it seeps from your body as it is exposed to air/oxygen. There is oxygen in your blood! The blood in your veins (check your wrists) may look blue because it is deoxygenated blood (blood that needs to get to your lungs for a fresh supply of oxygen). I could, at this point, explain the circulatory process, but it would be too complicated and take up a lot of space. Please, please don't keep perpetuating this myth that blood is blue when it is, in fact, red!
1 comment:
I laughed. Once a teacher, always a teacher!
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