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The Argentine exhibit is set in a "clinic," where children move through 11 stations in succession to learn about fever, skin diseases, nutrition, and other health matters. Some of the teachers there are medical and graduate students enlisted by Levin and his research-scholar compatriots. But other "teachers" are puppets, created as engaging learning tools by Susana Palomas, executive producer of Mini-Médicos. They enable children to hunt through the hair of wigs on mannequins' heads, seeking head-lice puppets hidden within, or to search for assassin-bug puppets in the model house's cracks and crannies that correspond to where real disease-carrying insects might lurk in real homes.
At each station, the children confront a different health issue. "These are not mysteries," says Levin, whose own research at CONICET, in Buenos Aires, focuses on the molecular genetics of Chagas disease. "These are problems that can be solved with knowledge of hygiene and nutrition and by timely treatment from health professionals."
"The lesson we want them to learn is that there is no mystery to keeping yourself healthy," says Levin.
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To help reinforce and leverage the impact of the exhibit, Levin wrote a song for the children to share with their friends and families:
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Mantenerse sano es algo serio,
Pero conseguirlo no es ningún misterio
(Staying healthy is serious,
But it's nothing mysterious.)
Lavarse las manos antes de almorzar,
Después de ir al baño, después de jugar.
Llegada la noche es bueno dormir,
Y al día siguiente jugar y reír
(Wash your hands before eating,
After going to the bathroom, and after playing.
When night arrives, it's good to sleep,
And the following day, to play and laugh.)
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