Mütter Lessons

Enhance your class's trip to the Mütter Museum with one of our disturbingly informative programs for students in grades 5-12. Lessons last 45 minutes and are held in our Koop Community Education Center.


Mütter Lessons are available Monday through Friday. Museum admission is $8 per student in pre-scheduled groups, with one chaperone admitted free for every ten paying students. The cost for classes is an additional $65 per group of up to 30 students.

To schedule a Mütter Lesson

Contact Marcy Engleman, Museum Educator at mengleman@collegeofphysicians.org or call (215) 399-2266.

Available Lessons

Turner’s Lane Hospital

This lesson will describe the key College Fellows who were instrumental in setting up Turner’s Lane Hospital in Philadelphia, the “Birthplace of Neurology.”

PA Standards met: History 8.2.9B, 8.3.9A, 8.3.9B


Civil War Medicine

An overview of the role and practice of medicine in the Civil War, and a description of the impact on modern medicine. Examples include the invention of ambulances and the development of specialty medicine.

PA Standards met: History: 8.1.9C, 8.1.12C Health, Safety & Physical Education 10.1.12A


Amputation—Then and Now

A description of amputation techniques and the use of prosthetic limbs in the Civil War with a comparison to those used today.

PA Standards met: Science & Technology 3.6.7A, 3.6.10A, 3.6.12A, 3.8.12B


The Role of Women in Civil War Medicine

A description of the key role played by women in the Civil War. These roles included that of nurses, doctors, US Sanitary Commission workers, spies, and soldiers.

PA Standards met: History 8.3.9C


Body Modification

For thousands of years, humans have been changing their bodies. Explore body modifications from around the world, from foot binding to body piercing, from corsets to neck coils. See museum objects not normally on display, and learn about the health implications of common body modifications.

PA Standards met:10.2.12 B, 10.2.6D, 10.2.9D, 10.2.12D

Pre-visit Lesson

Post-visit Lesson


Germ Wars

While less than two-hundred years old, the idea that germs make people sick has totally revolutionized not only medicine but our daily lives, from getting shots at the doctor to washing our hands before we eat. Discover the incredible, astonishing, and sometimes disgusting stories of the men and women who first fought germs and learned how to keep us healthy.

PA Standards met: History: 8.1.12C, 8.1.6A, 8.1.9C, 8.4.9A, 8.4.12A Health, Safety and Physical Education: 10.1.12A,E Science and Technology: 3.1.10E, 3.1.2E, 3.2.7A, 3.2.12A, 3.6.7A, 3.6.10A

Pre-visit Lesson

Post-visit Lesson


Bone Detectives

What happens when a skeleton is discovered? How do scientists use bones to solve crimes? Learn about the role of forensic anthropology in criminal investigation and what can be learned from examining skeletal remains.

PA Standards Met: Science and Technology: 3.2.10B, 3.2.7C, 3.2.10C, 3.2.12C

Pre-visit Lesson


Conjoined Twins (Together Forever…?)

Have you ever wondered how conjoined twins happen? In this lesson, learn about the nature of conjoined twins, the different types, and even discuss some famous conjoined twins. We will also discuss the ramifications of separation surgery, and why some twins can't be separated, or don't want to be separated.

PA Standards Met: Science and Technology: 3.6.7A, 3.6.10A, 3.6.12AQ, 3.8.12B


Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates

This lesson is the perfect companion to your classroom learning about vertebrate anatomy. Learn how a human arm is like a bat wing. How are horse hooves different from our feet? And find out which omnivorous animal has teeth almost exactly like ours!

PA Standards Met: Science and Technology: 3.1.7A, 3.3.7A, 3.3.10A, 3.3.12A


The Science Behind the Sideshow

Call them freaks, because with a few exceptions, that's what they proudly called themselves. In the 19th Century, "Born-Freaks" were the royalty of the sideshow. Learn the scientific reason behind their abnormality that made them the stars of the circus sideshow.

PA Standards Met: Science and Technology: 3.3.7C, 3.3.10C, 3.3.12C, 3.8.12B

Pre-visit Lesson

Post-visit Lesson

Heritable Characteristics


Medicinal Plants and Gardens

This class describes the history of the College’s Benjamin Rush Medicinal Plant Garden and outlines how plants have historically been used in both Eastern and Western medicine.

PA Standards Met: History: 8.4.6A, 8.4.6B, 8.4.9A, 8.4.9B; Health, Safety & Physical Education: 10.1.12B


Vaccine!

This class is based on the College’s History of Vaccines website.

PA Standards Met: History: 8.4.6A, 8.4.12A; Health, Safety & Physical Education: 10.1.12B, 10.1.12E; Science & Technology: 3.1.10E, 3.1.12E, 3.2.12A, 3.6.7A, 3.6.10A, 3.6.12A, 3.8.7A, 3.8.7B

All lessons satisfy certain Pennsylvania Academic Standards.

 

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