1. and the nature of teaching Anatomical Science
Students‘ perspectives on Anatomy Teaching ‘hands on prosected specimens - What does it mean?’
Eiman Abdel Meguid and Ashraf Aly School of Medicine Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences
Joe Allen School of Social Sciences Education and Social Work
A Range of University Subject Areas
Dentistry
Clinical medicine
Nursing
Public Health
Podiatry
Medical engineering
Orthodontics
and many more…..…..
A Range of Anatomy Teaching Contexts
lectures
tutorials
dissection
prosection
dissection videos
lab work
clinical settings
Images of prosected specimens and many more………..
A Range of University Assessments Methods
essay
final exam
spot examinations
oral presentation
final practical exam
controlled examination
continued assessments
practice assessments
observations and many more……………
The teaching of Anatomy spans a number of disciplines within the University. In this research, a range of teaching strategies used in anatomy education were explored with the aim of coming up with suggestions about the best teaching practices in this area.
Gross anatomy is a basic science which is considered an essential foundation for the study of medicine (Fasel et al. 1999; Sugand et al. 2010). Anatomy is a three-dimensional (3D) science. Traditional teaching methods have included 3D-based such as dissection, prosection and anatomical / plastic models and two-dimensional (2D) representations such as textbooks, chalk drawings and 2D digital images.
Evidence indicates that there is a considerable cognitive effort required to assimilate anatomical structures and their relationships (Garg et al. 1999, 2001, 2002; Hilbelink 2007; Seixas-Mikelus et al. 2010; Moxham et al. 2011)
Surface Structures
Deep Structures
Implicit Structures
Reflect a set of assumptions about how best to impart Anatomical knowledge and know-how
Concrete, operational acts of the teaching and learning of Anatomy
Includes a moral dimension that comprises a set of beliefs about professional attitudes, ethics, values and dispositions
Anatomy student:
Working with cadavers, more hands on allows to know how body parts actually work
Anatomy student:
More hands on, interactive, relates to real life
A lot more interactive
Mixture between theory and practice and interaction with dissection makes anatomy unique
Having Dentists as demonstrators gives a different view to anatomy that is very helpful to us ad dental students
The assessment is different, very memory dependent
More dissection and prosection videos please
Anatomy student:
The dissection room is an unique experience and invaluable to study Gross anatomy
Working with real human body tissue, allows more self directed learning
Anatomy students would like to have:
More dissection and images, more time for practical in small groups
More images to be available to study at home for self-directed learning
More dissection, more revision sessions, longer time in the spot test
Theory vs. Practice
and the nature of teaching Anatomical Science
All of the above comments were taken from a questionnaire which was given to 60 first year students of Anatomy