Artistic sculpture in anatomy: Training minds for holistic and integrative activity—A pilot study in medical education

Abstract

Background Increasing emphasis on integrative and holistic care also calls for a training of medical students in holistic and integrative mental activity. Intellectual learning can be complemented by holistic educational methods (such as arts) that make use of holistic gestalt perception and sensory-motor integration. Course, setting and subjects A 20 h credit-rewarded elective in artistic sculpture of anatomical forms was implemented as a pilot course to 1st- and 2nd-year medical students ( n =21) parallel to anatomy at the University of Bern. Objectives To facilitate the formation of three-dimensional (3D) holistic morphological representations through modelling anatomical structures in their morphological wholeness; to enhance remembrance of anatomical structures and motivation for learning anatomy. To evaluate global course satisfaction, course elements and instructor, and the transfer of course benefits. Outcome measures At course end students filled in a questionnaire to assess the subjectively perceived outcome of course and learner objectives, with 5 free-text-answer questions and 22 questions with a pre-scaled answering format: a 10-point scale for the assessment of global course satisfaction, and a 4-point scale for the remaining questions. Results Course evaluation : Satisfaction with the course, its singular elements and the instructor was “good” to “very good”, except for time management (1 question) and transfer (3 questions): “insufficient” to “sufficient”. Cognitive and affective learning objectives : The 5 questions received a moderately positive rating (to be answered by 4=yes, 3=rather yes; 2=rather no, or 1=no): facilitation of 3D representations (mean=3.0; range 1–4), of holistic representations (2.8/1–4), of remembrance of anatomical structures (3.0/1–4), and positive influence on attitude towards relation of art and anatomy (3.0/2–4), but moderately low influence on motivation for learning anatomy (2.3/1–4). The free-text answers revealed positive effects such as becoming aware of details in relation to the whole, improved comprehension of forms, metamorphoses and 3Ds, enhanced creativity, joy to use one's hands, and others. Conclusion Our data suggest a subjectively perceived positive effect of artistic sculpture on the formation and remembrance of holistic 3D representations of anatomical forms and on their aesthetic appreciation.