With a clenched fist, Linda Pellico knocks her hand against the side of her head. "Everything you are, and everything you will ever be, is right here," she says as she paces before a large group of third-graders at New Haven's Prince School. "Your face doesn't make you who you are; this is what makes you who you are," she repeats to the wide-eyed youngsters as she reaches out and caps her hand over a student's head. Pellico, who teaches at the School of Nursing, is referring, of course, to the brain, and she wants to make certain that her audience knows just how special -- and fragile -- that organ is. So while the students tap their hands against their own heads, Pellico holds up a jar containing a real sheep's brain. Spellbound, the young students peer at the soft, fleshy organ as the Yale nurse describes its importance. Then, Pellico shows them a genuine human skull. "Remember how we talked about how thin this bone is?" Pellico asks her audience as she pinches the skeletal crown. "Well, that's all that's protecting your brain, protecting everything you are. And that bone can get hurt easily, which is why you must wear a helmet when you ride your bike or rollerblade." That message is one that Pellico has emphasized at the many Connecticut schools she has visited as part of a School of Nursing community outreach program called "Learn About Your Body" -- or, as she refers to it, "Have Bones, Will Travel." Pellico, who is a lecturer at the School of Nursing and director of its Graduate Entry Program in Nursing (GEPN), started the program in 1997 with the goal of firing up schoolchildren's enthusiasm for science, as well as inspiring them to consider nursing as a possible future profession. Her free presentations, which Pellico tailors to fit the age and educational levels of the youngsters, cover basic human anatomy while emphasizing how the children can keep their own bodies safe and healthy. At every presentation -- which can run from 20 minutes to an hour-and-a-half -- schoolchildren look on in amazement as Pellico pulls out the three-dimensional objects she carts to the schools to illustrate her lessons. The skull and sheep's brain, Pellico says, always get the attention of her young audience members, who are also fascinated by the thigh, ear, spine and rib bones she lets them touch, or the stethoscopes they use to listen to their own heartbeats. Learning through touch, feel and smell. "One of the things that inspired me to start the program is that we have access to all these wonderful things at the School of Nursing that kids can learn from," says Pellico, who also coordinates an anatomy class for nursing school students. "There's no better way for children to learn than to use their own senses -- to touch, see, feel and smell what they are learning about. Seeing the real thing up close makes more of an impression than simply looking at pictures or diagrams." The Yale nurse uses more than bones and brains to demonstrate the workings of the human body. She also plays tape recordings to compare the strong and rhythmic beat of a healthy heart with the irregular beating of an ill heart, and to contrast the sounds made by healthy lungs and those of a smoker. To explain how the body takes in oxygen and then releases carbon dioxide, she makes a human chain, then runs quickly around the room adding and dropping students from the line. Children run in place quickly to feel the increasing speed of their pumping hearts. Fish-shaped bean bags, which she tosses back and forth with a student volunteer, help Pellico describe how the brain controls the body's reflexes and "communicates" with nerves and muscles. Her presentations are also filled with fun facts that make the sometimes difficult-to-grasp information more tangible. "You have 60,000 miles of blood vessels in your body," she tells the Prince School students. "Can you imagine how many miles that is? It's enough to draw a line around the center of the earth twice." A sneeze, Pellico tells them, travels at about 100 miles per hour. ("So you really need to cover your nose," she remarks, only half-jokingly.) Nose hairs work like a vacuum picking up dirt, she informs the youngsters. She describes white blood cells as the body's "spies," always on the lookout for unwelcome strangers, and likens blood platelets to glue. To remember where the heart is located, Pellico tells her young audiences, "just do what you do when you say the "Pledge of Allegiance." To help maintain the students' interest, Pellico continually mentions television characters that are popular with children, such as the "Rugrats" and "Alex Mack." In her discussion about the spine and spinal injuries, for example, she talks about "Superman" star Christopher Reeve, and how his fall while horseback riding damaged nerves running along his spine. Reeve's injury, she explains, is similar to what can happen to people when they dive into shallow water, a common summertime accident, Pellico notes. In her presentations, Pellico also teaches the children about good nutrition and hygiene, as well as the importance of staying away from drugs. Help from Nursing School staff, students. On average, Pellico visits one school a week, but she has sometimes given as many as three presentations weekly. Although she has made most of her presentations in the Greater New Haven area, she has visited schools as far away as Newtown and Madison. Often, she is accompanied on these visits by one of her students in GEPN, a three-year program for college graduates with no nursing background that combines preparation in basic nursing with a clinical specialty and research. During her recent visit to the Prince School, for instance, she was aided by nursing student Hannah Kopp, who plans a career as a nurse-midwife. Jessica Goldman, a Yale College graduate and School of Nursing student who is also studying to be a nurse-midwife, has accompanied Pellico on her trips to public and private elementary schools for the past two years. Occasionally, Pellico is also joined by her faculty colleagues at the School of Nursing, where she earned her master's degree in 1989. "It's energizing for all of us to be in the company of children, no matter what our specialty may be," Pellico comments. Demonstrating how dynamic nursing can be. For Pellico, who also works in the surgical intensive care unit at Yale-New Haven Hospital, one of the greatest rewards of being involved in the "Learn About Your Body" program is showing the children how dynamic her field can be. "I wanted to be a nurse since I was a child, and couldn't imagine being anything else," says Pellico. "It is a privilege to be a nurse -- to be allowed to be that close to a patient and his or her family members -- and I enjoy sharing my love for the profession with others. "At the schools," she adds, "the kids see us out there conveying our knowledge but also doing something fun. It gives them an opportunity to see nurses standing alone, doing something independently, and I think it helps to heighten their expectations of what nursing is about." The many letters from the students she has met testifies to Pellico's influence on them. "I never knew learning about the human body could be so fun and interesting," wrote one fourth-grader. "I hope to be a nurse someday." The writer added, as a postscript, "I would love to learn more about the brain." "It's such a gift to wear the two hats I do, as an educator and as a nurse," Pellico says. "And letters like that are also a gift, knowing at the end of the day that you have made some impact." For further information about the "Learn About Your Body" program, call Linda Pellico at 737-5392. -- By Susan Gonzalez T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S Letter to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences from President Richard C. Levin . . . Senior honored by USA Today for her academic excellence Have Bones, Will Travel'--Nurse instructor teaching youths . . . Senator decries Americans' growing cynicism about politics Author discusses public's 'profound ambivalence' about lawyers Graduate student wins support for research on removing viruses . . . Ancient Jewish legend takes shape in 'The Golem' Campus Notes

PHOTO BY MICHAEL MARSLAND  Hannah Kopp, a student at the School of Nursing, assisted Yale instructor Linda Pellico during a recent presentation of "Learn About Your Body" at New Haven's Prince School. Here, youngsters ogle a genuine human skull.