Anatomy Students Research Articles

Anatomy and physiology model making project: Assessing students’ perceptions, learning gains and academic outcomes

Background and objective: Student-originated projects as an innovative teaching approach in the laboratory classes play an important role in maximizing students’ learning by allowing them to venture into independent inquiry, making their experience more meaningful. Anatomy and Physiology model making project as a form of innovative technique in teaching science is well implemented in all Nursing Institutes under the Ministry of Health in Oman, that forms part of the laboratory assessment of the course. It started three years ago, with its objective of reinforcing the knowledge in a more active learning environment. Since its implementation in 2013, there has been no baseline study conducted along this area and the over-all effectiveness of the project has not been assessed. This study was conducted to find out the learning gains of nursing student in Anatomy and Physiology Laboratory Course through model-making project approach with the end view of formulating recommendations based on the tested findings.Methods: The study employed descriptive correlational method of research and survey as the data gathering technique. The primary quantitative data came from purposively sampled Year I Bachelor of Science Nursing Student in Rustaq Nursing Institute of Academic Year 2015-2016 (n = 33), and students’ final course grades in Anatomy and Physiology as secondary data. The data obtained were treated using percentage, ranking, weighted mean, Chi-square test and correlation analysis.Results: Findings revealed that the respondents strongly agreed to the learning gains obtained through the use of the model-making project in terms of skills and values domain (composite mean = 4.07; 4.43) respectively, while agreed on the aspect of knowledge and attitude domains. The Chi-Square test values and correlation analysis showed significant relationship (p = .000) between the profile of the respondents in terms of age and gender and their assessments on the learning gains, as well as on the correlation between perceived learning gains and grades of the students.Conclusions: There were positive learning gains through the model-making project in terms of the four learning domains. Significant relationship were found between the profile of the respondents and their assessments of the learning gains. Furthermore, the perceived learning gains was significantly correlated with the grades of students in Anatomy and Physiology course. The formulated recommendations for the instructional guidelines were based on the lowest rated items and needed to be enhanced among the students.

Trial integration of combined ultrasound and laparoscopy tuition in an undergraduate anatomy class with volunteer participation — A pilot study

Anatomy is a cornerstone of medical undergraduate curricula. Due to increasing changes in various medical fields, a lot of new subjects were introduced in undergraduate curricula, while the teaching areas of basic sciences, i.e. anatomy, were reduced. The introduction of advanced diagnostic and therapeutic devices, i.e. ultrasound and laparoscopy, with outstanding imaging quality will be increasingly introduced in basic sciences. In our project, we examined the effect integrating ultrasound and laparoscopy in an anatomy undergraduate course to illustrate the female pelvis. Anatomy students that completed their practicum and cadaver dissection course were enrolled in our project. They received a theoretical introduction followed by a practical course of ultrasound or laparoscopy in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology. Following the course the students had to answer two questionnaires that evaluated their satisfaction, subjective knowledge-gain, problems and content of the course. At the end, a closing briefing was done to discuss the clinical skills and the course. The answers of the questionnaire were summed up in a Likert scale. 25 students were enrolled in the project. 52% attended laparoscopy operations, while 48% attended ultrasound examinations. After analysing the questionnaires using Likert scales (1=strongly agree, 5=strongly disagree) a general satisfaction of 1.5, a subjective knowledge gain of 2.4 and a thrive to extend these clinical skill programs in gynaecology and other specialities in basic science of 1.5 and 1.2, respectively, was reported. There were no statistically significant differences in the Likert scores between both groups (p>0.05). The introduction of ultrasound and laparoscopy in undergraduate basic science teaching programs is a promising method and should be further evaluated, standardized and expanded.

Graduate and Undergraduate Faculty Collaboration Utilizing Peer Observation to Enhance Educational Opportunities for Students and Faculty: A Case Example

While evidence supports the use of cadavers to facilitate the teaching and learning of human anatomy, cadaver-based teaching may not be present at the undergraduate level at many institutions due to limited laboratory access, financial constraints, and the lack of qualified faculty trained to teach in this type of setting. The following case example outlines a unique program designed to provide cadaver-based instruction to undergraduate students, while simultaneously training undergraduate faculty to teach in this setting through peer observational methods. More specifically, the following teaching collaboration was designed with the intent to achieve the following: 1) expose undergraduate anatomy students to cadaver-based learning; 2) provide education and training to undergraduate faculty so they are better qualified to teach human anatomy in the context of a cadaver laboratory; 3) provide graduate physical therapy students additional opportunities to dissect and reinforce their anatomy knowledge; and 4) demonstrate the value of interdisciplinary collaboration. Eighty-one undergraduate students were exposed to the cadaver laboratory for four educational sessions throughout the semester. Course evaluations revealed that 93% of the undergraduate students reported that their experiences in the cadaver laboratory served to enhance their learning, and 97% reported that the use of human cadavers should be continued in future courses. This interdisciplinary model allowed anatomy instruction to be expanded to previously unserved student groups as well as provided a mechanism for professional development of undergraduate anatomy faculty. This model may serve as a template to promote new program development to enhance faculty and student learning, while simultaneously encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration across the university.Keywords: interdisciplinary, peer observation, pedagogy, anatomy, cadaver

An online catalog of muscle variants: Student perceptions of a new opportunity for self-directed learning.

Muscle variants are common findings in dissection laboratories. These anomalous structures can be relevant in the diagnosis and management of certain conditions and therefore could be incorporated into anatomy curricula at chiropractic colleges. We aimed to create an online resource of muscle variants to facilitate student self-directed learning within this area of study. At the time of their discovery during routine educational dissection, muscle variants included in the catalog were documented and subsequent case reports written. All content created for this resource, including photographs and videos, was hosted on the institution's learning management system. Students enrolled in our doctor of chiropractic program were invited to view the catalog and encouraged to leave feedback by completing an online survey. Student responses to Likert-style survey questions generally indicated high levels of satisfaction regarding the utility and features of the catalog. Open-ended and Likert-style survey questions were used to help guide the future directions of this developing resource. Concurrent anatomy students were not more likely to contribute to the catalog compared to students who had previously completed the university's anatomy course series ( p = .75, 2-tailed Fisher exact test). An online supplement to graduate-level gross anatomy courses can aid in the instruction of muscle variants by providing an opportunity for student self-directed learning. This resource will be updated continually and will be expanded on to include neurovascular and visceral variants. Student participation will be sought in developing future content to be included in this catalog.

Improving Academic Performance of Sport and Exercise Science Undergraduate Students in Gross Anatomy Using a Near-Peer Teaching Program.

Peer and near-peer teaching programs are common in medical undergraduate courses. However, there are no studies that have investigated the effectiveness of a near-peer teaching program on the academic performance of undergraduate students pursuing sport and exercise science coursework. This study was conducted to analyze the effectiveness of such a program for students who participated in a course on the functional anatomy of the locomotor apparatus. A total of 39 student participants were divided into two groups: students in one group voluntarily attended at least one session of a near-peer teaching program, and students in the other group attended no sessions. The final grade (range 0-100%) was recorded and used as an indicator of academic performance. The final grade of students who attended the near-peer teaching program (69.5 ± 16.0%) was 38.7% higher (P = 0.002, d = 1.06) than those who did not (50.1 ± 20.4%). When the academic performance of the same students was evaluated in another course (exercise physiology) that did not offer a near-peer teaching program, there were no significant differences between the groups (students who attended or did not attend the near-peer teaching program). A significant positive association was found between near-peer teaching program frequency and the number of students approved and not approved in the course (P = 0.041). A significant difference (P = 0.001) was found in the attendance at regular classes between the group who participated in the near-peer teaching program (median: 62 hours; IQR [interquartile ranges]: 4.0 hours) and those who did not (median: 58 hours; IQR: 4.0 hours). Gender was not a moderating factor on academic performance or near-peer teaching program attendance. These results highlight the effectiveness of a near-peer teaching program on the academic performance of students from a sport and exercise science degree program while enrolled in an anatomy course. Anat Sci Educ. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.

The Value of Traditional Lecture in Medical Gross Anatomy

Traditional lecture is continuously used in the medical school curricula as it is viewed by some to be the most efficient way to convey vast amounts of material to large groups of students. However, due to the rapid pace of traditional lecture and the constraints of working memory, it is extremely unlikely that most of the information presented in a given lecture is processed by the student in any meaningful capacity. Previous studies have revealed that despite these limitations, students continue to prefer lectures and teachers continue to use them as their primary teaching method. To investigate the value of traditional lecture both from a knowledge retention standpoint and the students' perception of the lecture, a survey of medical gross anatomy students (n=50) was conducted during a standard gross anatomy lecture on the spinal nerve. Immediately following the lecture, a survey was given to the students that asked about their perceptions of traditional lecture by having them rate on a scale of 1–10 (1 being low and 10 being high) how much they felt they learned in lecture, how much lecture guides their studying, and how important it is to attend lecture. In addition to the survey, students were given a short five question quiz to assess their immediate recall of the material that was covered. The results of the post‐lecture quiz were then compared to performance on questions covering the exact same topic on the unit exam. Four of the five questions on the unit exam were identical to questions on the post‐lecture quiz. One question was changed, but still covered content from the spinal nerve lecture. The results of the survey indicated that the students perceived a relatively low level of learning during lecture (m=4.84 ± 1.7 out of a possible 10), but placed a slightly higher value on using lectures to guide studying (m=6.18 ± 2.3 out of 10) and the importance of attending lecture (m=5.96 ± 2.3 out of 10). There was a significant difference in scores on the post‐lecture assessment (m=2.36 ± 1.5 out of a possible 5) and the unit exam (m=4.47 ± 0.9 out of 5); t(46)=−9.3, p < 0.001. This study demonstrates that students see some value in traditional lecture, but maybe less than previous studies have shown. Students' immediate recall after the given lecture was poor, however, performance on the unit exam was high for similar questions. This indicates that the bulk of content learning for exam preparation was done outside of class. These findings provide more evidence that instructors should design lectures that allow for the processing of information during lecture to avoid overloading working memory and potentially increase the perception of value in the lecture experience. This can be achieved by using activities that check for understanding, such as think‐pair‐share, and providing an opportunity for students to work with content immediately after delivery.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Building a Hybrid Gross Anatomy Curriculum: Integration of Virtual & Cadaveric Models

Cadaveric dissection is an important feature in a gross anatomy curriculum for medical practitioners. Currently, no other experience imparts a realistic, tactile understanding of tissues and organs necessary for actual surgical experience. Many students find cadaver dissection to be a beneficial experience. However, cadaveric dissection programs have three major drawbacks: (1) they require expensive logistical infrastructures to obtain, process, & utilize human gifts, (2) they provide limited exposure to the range of anatomical variation, and (3) they require students to study from textbook atlases as well as the physical dissection. This is a valuable experience, but can lead to confusion and loss of information when the cadaver does not match textbook anatomy or when structure is destroyed in the dissection process.To address these issues, many schools have looked at replacing physical cadavers with virtual models. Such “virtual cadavers” are relatively inexpensive and easier to work with. The best‐known example is the Visible Human Project[i], a publicly available dataset of a male and female cadaver in both annotated, Hi‐Res, cross‐sectional images & CT scans. Unfortunately, this is a limited dataset, which is not representative of the variation in population. Further, students lose the tactile experience of dissection, which is unique and has long‐lasting impacts throughout their medical education.To bridge this gap, the University at Buffalo (UB) is developing a hybrid gross anatomy program which integrates both formats. The program will leverage the Anatomical Gift program at UB, which provides 600–700 cadavers per year to schools across NY state, as well as state‐of‐the‐art imaging facilities at our Clinical and Translational Research Center, where cadavers are CT‐imaged at Hi‐Res. These scans are currently provided to students for dissection prep and review.To develop this program, several challenges must be addressed. Non‐contrast (NC) CT images must be processed to generate usable information for gross anatomy students. Registration must be performed to align samples for analysis (F1). Segmentation of structures to obtain virtual models is performed (F2). Finally, analytics must be performed to obtain anatomically relevant, quantitative information pertaining to structures such as probabilistic atlas creation (F3). These sample datasets will require novel automated deep learning methods to generate adequate models & analytics.In terms of education, the hybrid program must develop strategies to marry virtual models and dissection in a way that enhances learning without burdening students. Metrics must be implemented to define criteria for course improvement, success, & attrition. Students with special needs will need to be considered. The distribution format and access of the medical data will need to be assessed.The hybrid gross anatomy program will provide students with the benefits of dissection exposure, medical image utilization and a better understanding of human variation. The program offers exciting opportunities for technological and educational innovation.Support or Funding InformationIMSD R25 GM095459: Enabling Access to Cutting‐Edge Biomedical and Behavioral Science, Integration of Physical and Virtual Cadavers in a Hybrid Gross Anatomy Curriculum Center for Educational Innovation Grant.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Neural Basis of Spatial Ability and Anatomical Concepts: An fMRI pilot study

First‐time anatomy students struggle with organizing massive amounts of material, as well as demonstrating the necessary spatial ability skills to be successful. Instruction of undergraduate students can be quite challenging due to students' lack of metacognition and unfamiliarity with anatomical concepts. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can bypass this lack of metacognition and examine students' neural organization of anatomical knowledge and their neural basis of spatial ability. In this project, a group of undergraduate anatomy students (n= 53) completed a series of cognitive tasks. A simple linear regression was then performed to predict final course grade based on students' scores on cognitive tasks as well as examine the similarities between common cognitive tasks. Gender was not a predictor of mental rotation score (F(1, 51)= 3.230, p = .078), with an R2 of .06. A second cohort of undergraduate students (n=2) and graduate students (n=2) completed a Shepard‐Metzler (1971) Mental Rotation task and an anatomical concepts task under fMRI. The undergraduate and graduate cohorts' cortical activation during the tasks was compared using statistical parametric mapping (SPM). This work demonstrates the importance of spatial ability in the undergraduate anatomy setting and builds a neural foundation for understanding how anatomy learners organize anatomical concepts. This works also illustrates how the collaboration of educational researchers, cognitive scientists, imaging specialists and anatomical educators can provide diverse techniques and data for the betterment of anatomical and medical education.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Effects of Supplementing the Deconstructive Process of Dissection with the Constructive Process of Building Muscles in Clay

Typically, gross anatomy courses utilize cadaver dissection to facilitate learning specific structures as well as spatial relationships of one structure to another. The deconstructive nature of dissection, however, directs students to first examine the big picture and then discover underlying details. While this approach may be useful for many, some students are more successful when they are able to build‐up knowledge from the smallest details to the larger picture. Further, if students are able to successfully work through the deconstructive process of dissection, then mirror the process in a constructive way, they are more likely to have a comprehensive understanding of the location of structures and the spatial relationships between them. To evaluate how supplementing learning by dissection with a constructive analogy affects students' knowledge acquisition and application, 165 undergraduate gross anatomy students were asked to build pelvic limb muscles in clay following a dissection of the same muscles. Prior to the clay building activity students had completed the following class assignments: 1) watched lecture videos presenting information regarding pelvic limb muscles, 2) participated in class activities in which they were asked to apply information from the videos, and 3) completed a dissection of the pelvic limb on canine cadavers. At this point, students were asked to take a pre‐quiz designed to evaluate knowledge gained in four specific concepts as related to the muscles of the pelvic limb: 1) origins and insertions, 2) actions based on location, 3) identification, and 4) spatial relationships. During one lab period following the pre‐quiz, students participated in a guided activity involving building muscles on a skeletal model of the dog or human (Anatomy in Clay® CANIKEN® & MANIKEN®) in order from the deepest muscles to the most superficial. At the end of the activity, students were asked to complete a five‐point Likert‐scale survey which measured their perceived benefit from the activity. One week following the activity, they were given a post quiz which evaluated the same four concepts. Overall quiz scores improved significantly after completing the muscle construction activity. The pre‐quiz average was 59% while the post quiz average was 77% (p < 0.0001). Based on the survey, the majority of students agreed or strongly agreed that the physical and interactive nature of the activity was beneficial and that it helped improve their spatial abilities, their ability to visualize locations of muscles relative to one another and identify specific muscles.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Study Preferences of Strong and Weak Graduate Students

Many students beginning an allied health professional program come directly from their undergraduate academic experience. It is frequently the case that their first experience in a graduate program is a human anatomy course. Instructors frequently report that students struggle more in an anatomy course compared to other courses in a graduate program. One source of these challenges may be their lack of graduate level study skills. In an attempt to lessen student transition struggles with study skills from undergraduate to graduate education, faculty often provide a variety of supports. These may include assessment of learning styles, introduction to new study methods, providing subscriptions to online resources, lecture capture recordings, flash‐cards, anatomy models, cadavers, as well as spaces for group study. Questions arose regarding which of these supports were perceived as most effective for students in a graduate anatomy course.This study examined graduate students' preferred study techniques during two consecutive summer anatomy courses for the years 2014 and 2015 at a small private university's College of Health Sciences. 130 DPT and OTD students completed a voluntary online survey on this topic. The survey asked the students, “Having completed this course, please rank the following study techniques in the order you feel was of the greatest benefit to your personal study method for the exams in the lecture portion of the course.”Of the students that completed the survey, 16 earned an A grade and 14 received a C grade. In this study, the data from the 100 students achieving a B grade was not evaluated. The intent was to determine what the highest and lowest scoring students preferred to use in their written exam preparations. Each student ranked his or her preferred study techniques from 1 (most important) to 7 (least important). These data were evaluated using a Mann‐Whitney U‐test. The results of this survey indicated that the students earning the highest grades significantly (p< .05) utilized cadavers as a method of preparing them for lecture exams compared to the lower scoring students. In addition, the data from the C students identified that their use of a study group was ranked significantly (p <.05) more beneficial when compared to the study preferences of the higher scoring students.These results suggest that the stronger PT and OT students are better able to synthesize the practical hands‐on cadaver experiences and apply them towards the content tested on the written exam. In addition, it appears that the weaker students might be relying too heavily on the use of group study sessions in their preparations for the written exams.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Using Technology and Active Learning in a Lecture Based Anatomy Course: Does it Help?

Health professions programs' accreditation bodies require incorporating interactive teaching strategies throughout curricula, however it can be difficult to employ due to heavy course load schedules and space restrictions. Technology can assist in implementing interactive strategies by providing a means of content delivery to students before class time. This can allow for class time to be more interactive, however, the effectiveness of utilizing a combination of technologies before and during class time is unclear. The objective of this study was to determine if creating an active classroom experience utilizing technology before and during class time increases student's knowledge of and confidence in the presented content.50 1st year PA students watched a lecture that was given over the past three years in a short, content only video, created using “Expain Everything” the week before class. After watching the lecture, students filled out a short pre‐quiz on their understanding of the anatomy content. Using an iPad and Qualtrics, clinical cases were presented related to the anatomy content and students answered questions on the clinical applications in real time via Qualtrics. Students completed a post‐quiz at the end of the session. An anonymous survey was administered prior to the final exam to assess confidence in their understandin of the presented content. Quantitative data (pre‐quiz mean scores, post‐quiz mean scores, individual quiz question performance and performance on related exam questions) and qualitative data (survey confidence questions and session evaluation questions) were gathered.50 (100%) students completed the pre‐quiz, 47 (94%) students completed the post‐quiz, and 45 (90%) students completed the survey. There were no significant differences between pre‐quiz and post‐quiz scores (mean 82.1 and 80.1, respectively). Qualitative data showed that students felt the pre‐recorded lecture was a helpful resource and they enjoyed using both the pre‐recorded lecture and Qualtrics classroom case questions. However, students did not feel more confident in their understanding of the material.Based on these preliminary results, students did not perform better after the use of an active learning approach in a lecture based course. Further, while students may enjoy answering questions based on clinical correlations over listening to a live lecture, this teaching approach did not improve performance.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Integration of Surface Anatomy with Massage Therapy: Impact on Musculoskeletal Anatomy Knowledge and Student Wellness

Surface anatomy is important for medical students who are learning how to apply gross anatomy to the living body, and a critical knowledge base for effective physical examination. However, in compressed anatomy courses, time for didactic instruction on surface anatomy may be limited. In an effort to provide an opportunity for interested students to engage with surface anatomy, we developed an optional workshop course that used massage therapy as a medium for exploring surface anatomy. The course ran parallel to the first year gross anatomy course, consisted of four 2.5 hour sessions over 6 weeks, and was led by an anatomist and a massage therapist. Prior to each session, students viewed videos produced by the course instructors to review key anatomical landmarks and preview the massage techniques for that session. As a control, a separate population of students participated in the course by only viewing the weekly online videos.The study design was a randomized controlled study, wherein students were randomized into each group (hands‐on, n=20; online‐only, n=20), and completed a set of assessments before and after the course to assess musculoskeletal surface anatomy knowledge, knowledge and attitudes about massage therapy and student wellness. The anatomy knowledge assessment was a 23‐item assessment with varied question formats and was developed by the instructors based on course objectives. The wellness assessment was the World Health Organization Quality of Life‐BREF assessment of personal wellness. This assessment measures wellness over four domains (physical, psychological, social and environmental).Students in both groups demonstrated marked increases in anatomy knowledge after the course (p<0.001). Pre‐course scores were similar between the hands‐on and online‐only groups (44.13% ± 12.13 vs. 41.52% ± 12.89, p = 0.51). Post‐course scores were significantly higher in the hands‐on group (73.48 ± 11.28 vs. 67.39 ± 11.15, p = 0.04). The region with greatest learning impact was the back and neck (71.67% vs. 62.5%) with less impact on the limbs. The anatomical concepts that were most strongly affected were relationships to vertebral levels (83.33% vs. 61.67%) and bony landmarks (82.73% vs. 71.36%) with less impact on soft tissue landmarks. Knowledge and attitudes about massage therapy were both similarly enhanced in the hands‐on group compared with the online only group. Students in the hands‐on group also demonstrated improved wellness in two domains, physical (58.10 ± 11.21 vs. 63.85 ± 12.86, p = 0.06) and psychological (64.60 ± 12.58 vs. 69.50 ± 16.56, p = 0.03). The online‐only group demonstrated no change in wellness (physical: 64.55 ± 12.93 vs. 64.55 ±12.73) or a decrease (psychological: 69.20 ± 9.38 vs. 67.95 ± 9.78) during the same time period.The results of this study illustrate an innovative, practical way to explore surface anatomy and enhance learning outcomes specifically in the back and neck and with regards to bony landmarks. Integration of massage therapy has additional benefits to student well‐being and broadens student perspectives about interprofessional health care.Support or Funding InformationThis research was funded by a grant from The University of Iowa Council on TeachingThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Bring Your Own Device Initiative to Improve Engagement and Performance in Human Anatomy and Physiology I and II Laboratories

At the University of Mississippi, just 4.93% (2014) and 6% (2015) of Human Anatomy and Physiology students responding to an informal, opinion survey stated that their favorite lab activity was using microscopes. In addition, performance on lab practical questions involving the identification of specimens under a microscope is low with the average percent correct being as low as 31.85% and no higher than 41.94%. These numbers are troubling in that Human Anatomy and Physiology I and II are required courses for students desiring entry into many allied health professions where knowledge of tissues, obtaining samples for biopsy, and interpreting microscopic specimens are critical to their job performance. To increase students’ interest and engagement with microscopy and tissue examination and performance on laboratory practicals, we purchased microscope adapters that simultaneously connect students’ smartphones to the ocular lens of a microscope. These adapters allow students to take high quality pictures through the microscope with their mobile devices by aligning the focal points of the smartphone’s camera lens with the microscope’s ocular lens. These pictures could then be used by the student as a resource to study for the histological questions on the lab practical. To assess effectiveness of the adapters used with students’ smartphones, aggregate scores (i.e., percent correct) for tissue questions on lab practicals were compared between semesters where adapters and smartphones were used and semesters where they were not used. Two surveys with Likert-style questions were used to assess student’s levels of engagement in each semester. Results from survey responses shows that the use of microscope adapters in the laboratory along with students’ smartphones to take pictures of specimens through a microscope has the potential to improve student engagement in the laboratory. Results show that lab practical scores were higher in semesters where microscope adapters and smartphones were used compared to semesters where they were not used, but the increase in scores was not significant. The use of students’ smartphones along with microscope adapters in the laboratory has the potential to improve student engagement, but the role that it plays in student performance is still unclear.

Internationalization of Medical Education: Collaborations Initiated through the American Association of Anatomists (AAA) and the Anatomical Society (AS) Meetings Lead to Successful International Educational Partnerships

BackgroundInternational collaborations are very important for successful internationalization of medical education (IoME) projects. We have previously reported our experience in IoME within the Anatomy course, using international small group peer‐to‐peer and student exchanges. In this follow‐up study we have expanded our project to include more countries, along with making changes to the international conference. We now include two partner schools that became involved through connections initiated at the AAA 2016 meeting and the AS meeting in 2017.MethodPreclinical Anatomy students (medical and dental) from 6 different countries participated in 5 video conferencing sessions, including one large international student videoconference. The above was followed by international student exchanges ‐ involving basic sciences summer internships. Partner countries/schools included the USA (Columbia University, New York), Germany (Martin Luther University, Halle‐Wittenberg), Japan (Kyoto University, Kyoto), Canada (McGill University, Montreal), Finland (University of Helsinki, Helsinki), and Taiwan (National Taiwan University, Taipei).The relationships between the partner schools were made possible via interpersonal connections ‐ two of the schools became involved following presentations at the AAA meeting and the AS meeting, and subsequent communication between representatives of the institutions involved.Results110 students in 6 countries participated in this project, consisting of 20 small groups. To date, 23 students have indicated an interest in visiting their peers during the summer (2018), while conducting research fellowships in the host country ‐ 13 students from the USA, and 10 students from partnering countries.Two countries (i.e., Canada and Finland) that were not previously part of the program were included following connections made during the AAA meeting and the AS meeting. These countries have become popular destinations for student internships – so far, 4 students from the USA will be interning in Finland and 1 will intern in Canada. 2 students from Finland are scheduled to intern in the USA, 1 Canadian student will intern in Japan and another Canadian student will intern in the USA.In addition, following our presentation at the AS meeting in 2017 a new partnership with the United Kingdom was formed, and collaborative efforts are underway.Results from student feedback on this year's project are still pending.Without the AAA and AS meetings the additional partnerships would not have been possible, since recruitment of new partner schools has proven to be challenging without interpersonal connections. Therefore, professional societies such as the AAA and the AS (and their meetings) are important resources for collaboration and long‐term professional partnerships – benefiting students, teachers, and institutions.Support or Funding InformationNoneThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Development of a novel anatomy education tool for teaching dermatomes, cutaneous nerve maps and surface anatomy concepts: The Dry‐Erase Anatomy Mannequin (DrEAM)

Dermatomes are areas of skin whose sensory innervation can be traced back to a single spinal nerve. Knowledge of dermatome patterns is fundamental to the study of human surface anatomy and is diagnostically useful for a range of neurologic pathologies and injuries. Dermatomes and other surface anatomy concepts are often visually depicted in lectures and textbooks through illustrations. Such visual depictions are two‐dimensional and typically only show the anterior and posterior surface maps of the body side‐by‐side. However, dermatomes and other surface projections, such as cutaneous nerve maps, are 3D shapes that often pass continuously from anterior to posterior. Thus, learning these concepts from such limited visual depictions can provide perceptual challenges to anatomy students who must eventually apply 2D mental schema onto their 3D patients. Additionally, there is a relative lack of emphasis placed on teaching surface anatomy, both within textbooks and as part of formal anatomy curricula. Various instructional methods and low‐fidelity models have been developed by others attempting to convey surface anatomy concepts including body painting exercises and drawing on cloth‐covered anatomy models, to name a few.Here, we report the development of a new educational tool: The Dry‐Erase Anatomy Mannequin (DrEAM). Our novel low‐fidelity learning tool consists of common retail clothing mannequins coated in a commercially available dry‐erase finish and allows students to mark, erase and remark 3D surface anatomy shapes and contours, such as dermatomes, using dry‐erase markers. We also document our recent deployment of the tool as part of our “Dermatome Day” ‐ an informal, interactive extracurricular anatomy teaching session for undergraduate medical students. Other potential use‐cases for the DrEAM in teaching surface anatomy concepts within a range of health professions curricula are further proposed. Lastly, we discuss the formal evaluation of the DrEAM to determine its efficacy in improving student learning outcomes related to surface anatomy concepts as compared to other traditionally used methods. We hypothesize that its use will promote increased understanding of surface anatomy concepts amongst medical students and lead to their improved performance on related test questions when compared to more traditional teaching methods.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Effects of a Confidence‐Based, Individualized Remediation Strategy on Student Learning and Final Grades in an Occupational Therapy Anatomy Course

Measuring the number of correct answers on high‐stakes course examinations represents a one‐dimensional approach to understanding student learning. While a total number of points can easily be used to award a final grade according to a predetermined scale, achievement of competencies, i.e., knowledge and skills, in direct relation to stated course learning outcomes is multidimensional. Self‐confidence and general self‐efficacy play an important role in performance. For example, assessment methods that incorporate measures of both correctness and confidence detect student awareness of lack of knowledge (low confidence for an incorrect answer), misinformation (high confidence for an incorrect answer), guesswork (low confidence for a correct answer), as well as content mastery (high confidence for a correct answer). The present study investigated whether employing an individualized re‐examination approach in which self‐confidence was taken into account to remediate poor academic performance impacted student learning and final grades.On each of six high‐stakes lecture (selected‐response) and lab (constructed‐response) examinations, a 2016 cohort of 64 occupational therapy anatomy students reported self‐confidence on a 3‐point Likert‐type scale for their answers to each exam question. All exam questions were specifically linked to course learning objectives. After each examination, each student received written feedback regarding the six learning objectives on which they performed poorest based on their confidence in the correctness of their answers. On the subsequent examination, each student was administered six Individualized Remediation Questions (IRQs) retesting each of the six identified learning objectives. Examinations were scored and remediation performance was analyzed.All students showed an average increase in performance on IRQs retesting course learning objectives compared to their initial performance; students answered an average of 54 ± 5 (75% ± 6.9%) of 72 total IRQs with a higher correctness/confidence performance level than before (p < 0.001). Having to answer IRQs caused the overall grade percentages of all 64 students to decrease by an average of −2.02% ± 0.8% (p < 0.001). Grade percentage decreases ranged from −0.34% to −4.38% and translated to a lower letter grade for 16 students (25%) (p < 0.001). In an end‐of‐course survey, 29 students (45.3%) reported IRQs helped them master and retain more course content, while 46 students (71.9%) believed those same questions lowered their grade. Only 12 students (18.8%) believed they learned more yet likely received lower grades because of the intervention.This study demonstrates how a confidence‐based assessment method can be used to create a remediation intervention that more meaningfully assesses student performance. Even though being retested on objectives tended to have a negative impact on their final grade, this remediation strategy enhances student performance and perceptions of their learning by more accurately aligning correctness with confidence. Better understanding student confidence and attitudes toward learning may inform other strategies to successfully remediate poor academic performance.Support or Funding InformationNorth Dakota INBREThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

The Use of a 3 Dimensional Anatomy Application to Enhance Engagement and Satisfaction of Graduate Students Enrolled in Anatomy Courses in a Physical and Occupational Therapy Program

BackgroundAnatomy education is a mainstay in graduate education programs for health professionals, and is included in both physical and occupational therapy curricula. A multi‐modal approach to teaching anatomy is often used, including lecture, online material, laboratory with anatomy models, and dissection laboratory 3,5, in part to best target students with a variety of learning styles. Self‐regulated learning, where students take a more independent role in accessing information, is one such approach that has been shown to increase student engagement in the classroom. 7 To promote this learning mode, there has recently been an educational trend on utilizing computer‐based and digital software applications, to help supplement existing teaching styles, and offer an innovative method for students to access anatomy content and apply it to obtaining anatomy knowledge.1,4, 2,6,8,9 The purpose of this survey‐based study was to identify Physical and Occupational Therapy students' levels of satisfaction and engagement surrounding the use of a 3‐dimensional digital anatomy software application, within required anatomy courses in a post‐graduate level university setting.Methods and Data AnalysisFirst term Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) and Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT) students completed a questionnaire about the use of the digital application, and their opinions on the effectiveness of its use in the context of learning anatomy course content, including for didactic material, plastic model identification, and in cadaver dissection. Mixed method data analysis was performed on student demographic data, use of the application, and opinions about application effectiveness in supporting the acquisition of anatomical knowledge. Questions utilizing a Likert Scale were analyzed, and open‐ended questions were considered separately by qualitative analysis.ResultsFor both DPT and MOT students, the majority of respondents had not used a digital anatomy application prior to this study, and agreed or strongly agreed that a digital anatomy application was a valuable tool in acquiring anatomical knowledge for didactic lecture material, anatomy identification on plastic models, and for cadaver dissection. Most students recommended the use of this application for future anatomy students. The most prevalent qualitative comments supporting the use of the application included the clarity of the anatomy model, the ability to readily remove layers of anatomy, and the ability to quickly access anatomical information about a given structure with one link. The biggest barriers to application use were the lack of training in procedure and lack of comfort with utilizing digital media.ConclusionThe results of this study show that both DPT and MOT students felt that the addition of a digital anatomy application to available resources was a valuable tool for learning anatomy material across multiple aspects of the anatomy course.References provided on request.Support or Funding InformationNoneThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Evaluating Three‐dimensional (3D) Digital Models of Anatomical Variations as Assessment Tools for Undergraduate and Graduate Anatomy Education

IntroductionFor medical and allied health students, knowledge of anatomical variation is important as it may influence physical examination, diagnosis and treatment of patients. Recent studies indicate anatomical variation should be conceptually integrated early into the anatomy curriculum prior to the discipline specific variations taught in surgical and radiological postgraduate training programs. For academic institutions with limited access to cadaveric dissection and anatomy museums, the opportunity for students to appreciate the range of normality in anatomical structures is diminished. Thus, the purpose of this study was to demonstrate how 3D models of anatomical variations may be used to assess structure, function and spatial relationships by incorporating the concept of anatomical variations into assessment paradigms.MethodsTwo 3D digital models depicting upper limb muscular variations, and a 3D teratological model were evaluated by undergraduate kinesiology (KIN) (n = 30), and graduate clinical anatomy (CA) (n = 10) students. The study protocol consisted of the following instruments introduced in sequence: (1) 30‐question Spatial Ability Test (SAT), (2) 16‐question baseline upper limb anatomy test, (3) 13‐question multiple choice quiz based on the displayed 3D models, and (4) Student perception survey (5‐point Likert scale). Based on SAT scores, a median split was used stratify the students into high (KIN: 15, CA: 5) and low spatial ability (KIN: 15, CA: 5). All data are presented as Mean ± SD.ResultsBoth student groups scored similarly on the baseline anatomy knowledge test (KIN: 71 ± 17 %, CA: 71 ± 12%). The mean 3D model quiz scores for KIN students of high spatial ability were 72 ± 16% compared to those of lower spatial ability, 68 ± 14%. The 3D model quiz scores for CA students of high spatial ability were 88 ± 12% compared to CA students of lower spatial ability, 77 ± 15%. The models were perceived as useful in assessing spatial relationships (KIN: 4.4 ± 0.8, CA: 4.9 ± 0.3) and clinical concepts (KIN: 4.0 ± 0.9 CA: 3.9 ± 0.3). Student perceptions were positive for integrating the 3D models into lecture, or laboratory discussions, but KIN students were relatively neutral (3.2 ± 1.2) compared to CA students (3.9 ± 0.3) in their integrated use in bell‐ringer style laboratory assessments. The students expressed interest for a database of explorable 3D models of anatomical variations.ConclusionIntegration of the 3D variant models into anatomy curricula could be a useful means in assessing fundamental anatomical concepts, while demonstrating how deviations in structure can affect normal function. For institutions with computer access but limited cadaveric resources, the 3D models could be powerful supplementary teaching and assessment tools for anatomy students of all education levels and spatial abilities. Furthermore, development of a database of explorable anatomical variations for teaching and learning purposes would be valuable for allied health and medical programs in search of integrating variant anatomy into their anatomy curricula.Support or Funding InformationSupported by: American Association of Anatomists (AAA) Education Research Scholarship; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Netlab: A platform for crowdsourcing virtual microscopy knowledge

The Netlab project is part of an ongoing effort in image informatics that began in early 1985. This early work resulted in the development of the first digital histology atlas system, which was presented at a NASA conference in 1987. That system used a technology called MetaMAP to make every pixel of the image an independently‐addressable hotspot, linkable to histology knowledge data relating to the cell or structure at that location in the image. The MetaMAP system was then applied to larger anatomy imaging projects, first in the Visible Embryo Project, at UCSF, in 1994, then in the Muritech Atlas of Mouse Development, in 1996, and the Eolas AnatLab project in 1998 and later. In the AnatLab system, MetaMAP allowed the creation of over 800,000 3D anatomical annotations to be made on the image data from the Visible Human Project. The scale of that effort exposed the extreme difficulty involved in validating this kind of data, even when the annotators were trained anatomy students supervised by a professor. The Netlab system is an attempt to lay the groundwork for both building virtual microscopy resources of unlimited scale, and leveraging the power of crowdsourcing to facilitate detailed and validated annotation of the microscopic image data accessible through the system. The Netlab client software allows users to access Aperio‐scanned slide image data streamed in real time over the cloud from the Netlab servers to either a Web browser or a mobile app. Users can pan and zoom in and out across the magnification ranges typical of microscopes in the lab, and can place textual annotations at any locations on any slides in the collection. Each annotation can be classified as private, group or public. Any user with access permission to view another user's annotation can validate that annotation. Each validation is assigned a weight based upon the role of the validator (peer or professor, for example). Group moderators (e.g., professors) can set thresholds for validation. Annotations above the threshold have a “verified valid” icon displayed when viewed. Future work will focus on both expanding the image collection and the development of a more automated validation system, using an approach inspired by the proof‐of‐stake distributed consensus algorithms currently popular in the blockchain technology field.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Learning Anatomy: Using the Blooming Anatomy Tool to determine how course delivery and duration affect the performance of anatomy students

During the fall/winter intake (FW), the University of Western Ontario offers a 3rd year systemic human anatomy course (ANATCELL 3319) in face to face (F2F) and online sections. F/W F2F students attend a weekly 1‐hour cadaveric lab where they view and manipulate prosections while FW online students attend a weekly interactive video conference lab session where their teaching assistant display PowerPoint slides, anatomy software and other materials. Both sections share the same multi‐choice questions (MCQ). During the summer intake, the course is only given in the online section with the labs given twice a week. Our previous study, relating to a different academic year, showed that FW F2F and FW online students performed equally well on their final grades. At that time, online students had access to Netter's 3D Interactive Anatomy to study laboratory materials. In this current study, students were not given access to anatomical software, however, their teaching assistant used 3D4MEDICAL for instruction purposes. This study compared the MCQ scores between the FW sections and the summer intake taking into account the cognitive level of the questions as determined by the Blooming Anatomy Tool (BAT) developed by Thompson & O'Loughlan (2015). The BAT rubric consists of knowledge, comprehension, application and analysis levels.During FW, F2F (n= 156) and online (n= 197) students had MCQ (n= 300) classified according to the BAT as follows: 149 knowledge, 120 comprehension, 21 application and 10 analysis questions. The scores in BAT levels were compared between the two sections. F2F students scored significantly higher than FW online student in knowledge, comprehension and application as well as the total MCQ (p≤ 0.001). The lack of difference in analysis could be due to the low MCQ number in that category. When comparing the scores across BAT levels within each section, application did not differ from comprehension in F2F but was lower for FW online students (p= 0.026) suggesting that F2F students are better at solving application MCQ. It should be noted that the performance of students in their prior years was the same for both the FW F2F and online sections which suggests that the improved performance by the F2F students is related to the manner in which the laboratory material is delivered.When the scores of F/W online (n= 197) and summer online (n=41) students in common MCQ (n=222 with 108 knowledge, 94 comprehension, 14 application and 6 analysis) were compared, FW students scored higher than summer students in knowledge (p< 0.001) and comprehension (p=0.001) as well as the total MCQ (p< 0.001). It should be noted that the incoming grades were higher for FW than summer online students (p< 0.05), which may account for the difference outlined above.In summary, the results suggest that the performance of FW online students declined year over year when they were no longer provided with personal versions of the software used online (Netters 3D Interactive Anatomy). In addition, we found that learning anatomy F2F using prosections may increase the ability to solve application questions when compared to FW online labs.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.