Are you teaching, learning, or learning how to teach?

Abstract

If you're involved in teaching anatomy, learning about anatomy, or learning how to teach anatomy—which would likely be everyone reading this article—then you'll want to be at the 2005 AAA Annual Meeting, scheduled for 2–6 April in San Diego. The Education and Teaching Track at the 2005 AAA Annual Meeting covers 4 full days, combining the traditional focus of teaching substance with an in-depth look at the present and future of who is doing the teaching and how anatomy is being taught. The Annual Meeting opens by offering a clean slate for the anatomy program of the future and asking, If we were building an anatomy syllabus from scratch, what would we teach and how would we teach it? Join us on Saturday, 2 April, for this special workshop on “anatomical sciences de novo,” in which participants will have the opportunity to plan an anatomy teaching program as if none had ever existed before. Workshop conclusions will be presented and discussed further in Monday morning's Anatomy Education Breakfast Roundtables. Two additional sessions—Endangered Species: Who Will Teach Anatomy in 2010? and Anatomy Education: Teach Now or Pay Later—will consider where future anatomy educators will come from and look at the potential impact of not teaching anatomy early on in the medical school curriculum. Moving from curriculum structure to curriculum content, AAA's popular Integrative Master Class series spotlights the cardiovascular system, while two new Refresher Courses provide updates on birth defects caused by environmental defects and how to integrate basic and clinical concepts in teaching histology. And, acknowledging the popular TV series, we'll turn one session into CSI San Diego to bring you up-to-date on applied anatomy in physical and forensic anthropology. Expanding on AAA's commitment to supporting biomedical researchers and educators early in their professional endeavors, we've added another new program to help student/postdoctoral members jump-start their careers. Several student/postdoctoral members who applied for 2004 Travel Awards have been asked to cochair an Annual Meeting session in 2005. These “shadow organizers,” matched with session organizers based on their research areas, will shadow the organizer and learn what it takes to put together an Annual Meeting symposium. They'll contact and connect with invited speakers, introduce some of the speakers at the symposium, and may lead the Q&A—excellent ways to become known by others in their area. All this, plus AAA will cover their registration fee and provide a 2005 Travel Award. Interested? If so, the first step is to apply for a 2005 Student/Postdoc Travel Award by going to AnatomyLink (www.anatomy.org) and clicking on “awards/grants.” Some recent additions to the AAA Annual Meeting schedule have been so well received that they are now part of “networking as usual”: two separate award sessions highlight the research of student and postdoctoral award nominees and our Student Poster Session and Reception is the best place to meet your next mentor, grad student, postdoc, or new faculty member. Apart from an exciting education and teaching program, the AAA Annual Meeting offers you a strong scientific program of symposia, platform sessions, and posters, with an extensive exhibit featuring state-of-the-art equipment and the latest publications. If your work touches on other biomedical disciplines, the whole world of experimental biology is open to you. There are also lots of opportunities to mix, mingle, and network with AAA colleagues, including the Annual Meeting Socializer, the AAA Awards Banquet, the ongoing ChatRoom in the AAA Office, and impromptu discussions in-between sessions. So, recognizing that active learning is much more effective than passive, block out 2–6 April on your calendar and start thinking about the abstract that you're going to submit for the AAA Annual Meeting at EB 2005—it's due by Wednesday, 3 November. Then head to AnatomyLink (www.anatomy.org) for details on how to submit an abstract, register for the meeting, and book your hotel. See you in San Diego!