LUDIC ANATOMY PROMOTES LONG‐THERM KNOWLEDGE RETENTION

Abstract

The project Ludic Anatomy is a learning and teaching tool used in the Medical, Pharmacology, Dentistry and Biology courses of the Federal University of Ceará. Concerning to the benefits of ludic activities, they make the teaching and learning process more dynamic and interesting, by stimulating the active studying of the muscular system and creating a playful method which is greatly different from the orthodox classes, they also have a positive influence in the memorizing development of anatomical terms. Considering the method of the ludic activity, the students used pins to mark and, then, identify fifty different muscles of the doll. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate if the use of toys in the anatomy’s learning and teaching process promotes long therm (6 months) knowledge retention. It was realized a descriptive exploratory study with quantitative approach with 61 medical students who participated of the project. To collect data, a semi‐structured questionnaire was applied at the time of activity and lasted six months. For statistical analysis, the Mann Whitney test was considered significant when presented the p<0,05. The mean age of the participants was 19,97 ± 0,46 for males and 19,74 ± 0,37 for females, there was not an important difference between the ages. A statistically significant difference was observed in the knowledge retention when compared the correct (7,69 ± 0,18) and wrong (1,30 ± 0,18) answers. A negative correlation (R −0,057) between the time spent studying and the numbers of questions right was observed. In conclusion, it was verified that the Ludic Anatomy promotes learning and the long‐therm knowledge retention. That project’s advantage demonstrates the importance of the ludic activity as an effective learning tool in the improvement of the traditional teaching of Anatomy.Support or Funding InformationCNPQ