Abstract
Several teaching resources are used to enhance the learning of anatomy. The purpose of this study was to examine the preference of medical students on the use of various resources to learn anatomy and their link to 12 learning outcomes. A selected response item questionnaire was administered that asked students to rank six laboratory teaching resources from most to least preferred, and rate how useful these six resources were towards achieving 12 learning outcomes. These learning outcomes covered many of the learning domains such as demonstrating an understanding of anatomy, visualizing structures, appreciating clinical correlations, and understanding anatomical variations. Medical students ranked cadaveric prosections paired with an active learning clinical tutorial as the highest rank and most useful resource for learning anatomy, followed by dissection videos, electronic resources, and printed material, followed by plastinated specimens and plastic models. Overall, cadaveric prosections were also rated as the most helpful teaching resource in achieving various learning outcomes. In conclusion, anatomy teachers should provide prosections coupled with clinical tutorials as well as electronic resources as students prefer these and think they help them learn anatomy. Future studies will investigate the impact of using these resources on students’ performance.
Highlights
Anatomy is often referred to as the “cornerstone” of healthcare education [1, 2] and has been a crucial component of medicine throughout history [3,4,5]
We aimed to investigate medical students’ perceptions on their anatomy learning process by evaluating six teaching resources on how helpful they found them in achieving twelve learning outcomes in the context of the anatomy teaching curriculum at University College Cork
A total of 86 first year medical students were enrolled in the course with 65 students taking part in the study yielding a 76% response rate
Summary
Anatomy is often referred to as the “cornerstone” of healthcare education [1, 2] and has been a crucial component of medicine throughout history [3,4,5]. Keeping anatomy as a central part of the preclinical education has been long established as essential for the building of knowledge for both clinical education and future medical practice To accomplish this goal, it is crucial to utilize the most effective teaching resources and methods in order to achieve the learning outcomes necessary to help shape the generation of physicians. Providing a more robust sensory experience along with an active style of learning and teaching will generally lead to an effective encoding of the presented information [9] This can include integrating additional relevant visuals, using a variety of manipulative models and specimens, or presenting the same information multiple times and within different contexts [10]. Dissections, prosections, and plastinated specimens can be used to increase the level of physical manipulation and interaction, which leads to a more mentally engaged student [14]
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