A Student‐Centered, Active Learning Approach to Teaching Spinal Cord Anatomy

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this project was to employ and preliminarily evaluate the effectiveness of small group, active learning among second‐year medical students studying the anatomy of the spinal cord.MethodsWe presented spinal cord anatomy in our “Human Condition” course for two cohorts of second‐year medical students. In 2015, and years prior, the material was incorporated into large group sessions and presented using slides in a large lecture hall. In 2017, we reorganized this learning activity into a more student‐centered, small group laboratory session. The interactive learning approach emphasized group work and higher‐order thinking to apply knowledge gained from assigned readings. In addition, students were encouraged to correlate anatomical features of prosected human spinal cord specimens with histological sections. After working together to solve the prompts posed by the faculty member, the students applied the teach‐back method to explain their answers and rationales to their facilitator. Facilitators used Socratic questioning to guide the discussions and to promote higher‐order thinking. Course examinations from both years included one question about spinal cord anatomy relevant to the material covered in both sessions. We compared scores from both years to evaluate the effectiveness of these learning approaches.ResultsStudents who participated in the student‐centered laboratory approach demonstrated a modest increase (3%) in overall performance on the spinal cord examination question. The transition was faculty‐intensive, requiring both an increase in the number of trained facilitators and multiple iterations of the same station.ConclusionsThe student‐centered, active learning approach was associated with a modest increase in student performance on the course examination. From our preliminary evaluation, we observed no detrimental effects from shifting the large group session to small group lab stations; indeed, our evaluation suggests at least a modest benefit. The use of spinal cord specimens underscores the importance of donated anatomical material for medical education. These specimens were integral to the learning activity, as students applied their observations of gross features to their decision‐making in solving prompts relevant to spinal cord histology. Additionally, the small group laboratory approach was an efficient use of curricular time. We aim to continue to study the effectiveness of this learning approach, ideally migrating other large group sessions into the laboratory whenever possible.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.