Search

Background: Mental rotation is a cognitive process that involves the rotation of a mental representation of an object. This ability is important for medical students in studying anatomy as this subject requires the understanding of positional relations between organs., Objectives: To find the effect of video learning of anatomy, training, gender, and type of practical exam on mental rotation ability. Also, to find correlation between mental rotation and anatomy scores., Methods: Two groups were recruited: group A studied practical anatomy online using videos due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown; group B studied anatomy labs on-campus on plastic models. Both groups underwent a mental rotation test. Group A took labs on-campus during their second year and this was considered a training course for their mental rotation ability. Both groups, then, took a second mental rotation test. Group A was finally given a practical anatomy exam using plastic models., Results: Males scored higher than females, though not significantly. The intervention course produced no significant change in mental rotation score of group A. Mental rotation score was correlated more with the theoretical anatomy exams than the MCQ-based practical exam, for both groups. For group A, mental rotation was better correlated with the model-based than the MCQ-based practical exam, especially the post-training score., Conclusion: For students to take full advantage of their mental rotation ability, not only their practical anatomy sessions but their practical anatomy exams should be on anatomical specimens and not just videos or images., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Team-based learning is a strategy which has resulted in positive outcomes concerning health professions education. We aimed to shed light on the role of this strategy when it is incorporated in the cadaveric anatomy laboratory., Methods: We explored PubMed, SCOPUS, ERIC and Cochrane databases for articles with purpose to investigate the educational outcomes of the integration of team-based learning in the cadaveric anatomy laboratory., Results: Six articles were eligible for inclusion. One of them assessed only participants' opinions about the educational intervention and five papers evaluated students' knowledge. Overall, the research showed significant improvement in students' examinations performance and significant superiority to control groups, as well as positive perceptions. There are limited data regarding the factors which may contribute to this success, but it seems that particularly the degree of teacher's involvement and competency needs to be further investigated., Conclusion: Anatomy educators may consider further adopting team-based learning to facilitate the achievement of the learning objectives of the cadaveric anatomy laboratory and increase the teaching potential of cadavers., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: The educational use of gestures has resulted in positive outcomes in several fields. We performed a literature review to investigate the outcomes of the use of gestures to enhance the existing anatomy education methods., Methods: PubMed, SCOPUS, ERIC and Cochrane databases were searched for papers with purpose to investigate the outcomes of the use of gestures (either seeing or performing them or both) as adjuncts to existing anatomy education methods., Results: Six articles were included. Three studies comprised both seeing and performing gestures by the students, while the remaining three studies only comprised either seeing or performing gestures by the students. Most studies evaluated the acquisition of anatomical knowledge after the educational intervention and demonstrated that the addition of gestures resulted in significant benefit compared to control groups, while positive students' perceptions were recorded. It was not clarified whether seeing or performing gestures by the students leads to better educational outcomes., Conclusion: Gestures-enhanced anatomy education seems to be a promising teaching strategy, given that it has led to significantly increased acquisition of anatomical knowledge compared to no gestures-enhanced modalities. The addition of gestures to existing anatomy education modalities seems able to increase their potential without increasing their cost. Further research is needed to determine if seeing or performing gestures by the students is more effective., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Objective: We aimed to explore to what extent the literature supports that the use of cadaveric computed tomography can play an important role in anatomy education., Materials and Methods: PubMed, SCOPUS, Education Resources Information Center and Cochrane Databases were searched for papers with purpose to explore the outcomes of the use of cadaveric computed tomography scans in anatomy education. The following data were obtained from each paper: authors, number of participants, type of study (comparative or not), level of outcome according to Kirkpatrick hierarchy, possible evaluation of statistical significance, acquisition of anatomical knowledge after the educational intervention and perceptions about the effectiveness of this intervention in anatomy learning., Results: Seven articles were included. Four of them evaluated students' knowledge after the use of cadaveric computed tomography scans in anatomy education and three papers evaluated only students' perceptions. Generally, the outcomes, which mainly concerned students' perceptions, were positive, while it was showed that students' academic performance may also be improved., Conclusions: The outcomes of the use of cadaveric computed tomography scans in anatomy education encourage the implementation of this teaching modality in anatomy curricula. Further research, including comparative studies with evaluation of acquisition of students' knowledge, is needed to show if cadaveric computed tomography will be proved a remarkable supportive tool in anatomy educators' hands., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Objective: We aimed to investigate to what extent the literature supports that game-based learning (gamification) could play a significant role in anatomy education., Materials and Methods: PubMed, Education Resources Information Center and Cochrane Databases were searched for papers with purpose to investigate the educational outcomes of game-based anatomy learning. We extracted from each paper the number of participants, type of study (comparative or not), level of evidence according to Kirkpatrick hierarchy, possible evaluation of statistical significance, method which was implemented, academic performance of participants after the educational intervention, perceptions about the effectiveness of game-based approach and its impact on motivation to learn., Results: Eight papers were included. Six of them were comparative, comprised assessment of students' examinations results and showed that those results were generally improved after exposure to game-based methods, in comparison with non-game-based ones. There is lack of evidence that the intensity of competition is correlated with the educational outcomes and that game-based approaches motivate students to a greater extent in comparison with other teaching methods., Conclusion: Game-based methods could obtain a remarkable supplemental role in the blended learning approach, which is applied by anatomy educators. Further research is needed to shed light on the characteristics of game-based methods which are more useful and should be adopted., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)