It’s hard to teach eight-year-olds where the intestines are using a flat textbook diagram. Verónica Duque found a better way: she became the diagram.
An Ad, a Bodysuit and a Lesson Plan
Duque, then 43, teaches third grade in Spain and has taught for 15 years, covering science, art, English and Spanish. She told Bored Panda that she was browsing the internet when an ad for an AliExpress swimsuit popped up. Her thinking was practical: it’s tough for children this young to picture where internal organs sit, so she decided to give the suit a try.
The skin-tight spandex bodysuit shows the heart, lungs, intestines, kidneys, muscles and ligaments in detail, and no skin was exposed. She wore it to class for a lesson on the human body.
How It Went Viral
Her husband, Michael, joined the lesson, snapped photos and posted a collage to Twitter on December 16, 2019. His Spanish caption, translated, said he was proud of his “volcano of ideas” of a wife, and that the kids were “freaking out.” The tweet racked up more than 13,000 retweets and about 66,000 likes.
Most responses were positive, praising her creativity. Some critics didn’t like the suit, but they were in the minority.
Not Her First Costume
The bodysuit is far from Duque’s only classroom prop. She told Bored Panda she decided long ago to use costumes in history lessons, and she gives students cardboard crowns to learn parts of speech such as nouns, adjectives and verbs, creating what she calls different “grammar kingdoms.”
A Message for Teachers
Duque used her moment in the spotlight to push back on a stereotype. “I’d like society to stop considering teachers to be lazy bureaucratic public servants,” she said, and added, “We’re certainly not.”
Why It Works
Children often learn more when lessons involve movement and the senses, and a three-dimensional “map” of organs is easier to remember than a labeled drawing. If you’d like to try something similar at home or school without wearing a costume, there are simple ways to do it:
- Build a model lung. Use balloons, a plastic bottle and straws to show how breathing works.
- Sculpt organs. Modeling clay or play dough helps kids learn where organs go.
- Make a heart model. Simple materials can show how the heart pumps blood.
Bring Anatomy to Life
Teachers and parents who want to bring biology to life have plenty of tools to choose from:
- Anatomy models and posters. Compare human anatomy models, torso models and classroom anatomy charts.
- Hands-on science kits. Compare STEM science kits and educational anatomy puzzles for kids.
- Teaching supplies. Browse classroom supplies and teacher resource books.
- Advance your career. Compare online teaching degrees and continuing education courses for educators.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Verónica Duque? She is a teacher in Spain who has taught for 15 years and went viral in December 2019 for wearing an anatomy bodysuit to teach third-graders about the human body.
Where did she get the suit? She saw an ad for an AliExpress swimsuit online and decided to try it as a visual aid.
How did the lesson go viral? Her husband tweeted photos on December 16, 2019, and the post gathered about 66,000 likes and over 13,000 retweets.
What other creative teaching methods does she use? She wears costumes in history lessons and uses cardboard crowns to teach grammar.
Sources: Fox News, Audacy, Design You Trust, and Upworthy, all covering Verónica Duque’s anatomical bodysuit lesson, her viral December 2019 tweet, and her interview with Bored Panda.
She I s so adorable in the body attire. God bless her for engaging with kids to help them learn more quickly, instead of being put to sleep by a mono-tone reading of the subject of bodily functions. I want her for my grandkids teacher.
Thank you for your dedication and service to children.
Where and which country can I purchase this anatomical wetsuit?
Is Slim Goodbody any relation to Nurse Goodbody from the TV show “Hee Haw”? All kidding aside, I DO remember Slim Goodbody and reading about him in a reader from maybe 3rd grade or so. Remember Conan O’Brien’s spoof of the same character whom I believe was named Slim Organbody who even had a dog named Guts? The poor dog had on a body suit showing the “innards” of a canine! Not to be too much of a whatever, but did that teacher even describe reproductive organs? My rather conservative parents would not have approved of 8 and 9-year-olds knowing about that. I’m not sure how I feel about at what age children should learn about human reproduction. When I went on a Saturday field trip for 6th-graders circa May of 1977, we went to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum and among the displays there was a “statue” of a woman which showed her internal organs and she even described her sex organs and how she could get impregnated. She was careful to say that if she mated with her husband it would happen. I guess they were trying to discourage illegitimacy, which I think SHOULD be discouraged.
You never had sexual relations out of wedlock?