Practical Tips for Effective and Efficient Anatomy Teaching

Abstract

Medical, nursing, and other health profession students learn human anatomy in their foundation years. The subject becomes a challenge for many of them, partly due to the inherent nature of the overwhelming amount of factual knowledge they must absorb and partly because of traditional teaching methods. Twelve practical tips for competent anatomy teaching are outlined, based on the four basic educational principles of feedback, activity, individualization, and relevance (FAIR principles). When novice anatomy lecturers know how to provide formative feedback, create an active learning environment, cater to an individual student’s needs, and prepare relevant learning materials, their teaching will be more effective and efficient.