Anatomical Sciences Education最新文献

Human anatomy dissection serves as a cornerstone of medical education, fostering not only anatomical knowledge but also teamwork and professionalism. Given the considerable intellectual, physical, and emotional demands of dissection, effective team dynamics are essential for student success. To enhance learning experiences and academic outcomes, we developed the “Yukari method”—an automated system for optimizing anatomy dissection team assignments. This method uses a heuristic local search algorithm to maximize peer compatibility based on student peer preferences and motivation levels collected via a secure web survey. Compared to random and self-selected teams, those assigned using the Yukari method showed approximately a 10% improvement in academic performance. Student satisfaction with Yukari-assigned teams was significantly higher than with random assignment and comparable to self-selection. This increased satisfaction, in turn, correlated with better academic outcomes. These findings suggest that the Yukari method is effective in medical education and potentially useful in other team-based disciplines, such as engineering and social sciences.

A card game, "Hold your Nerve," was developed to aid memorization of anatomy terminology in small-group learning formats. Each of the 719 cards consisted of an anatomical term and its definition. To play, a student blindly holds a card so as to block the definition but display the term to the group, who must provide verbal/physical clues to help the student guess the term. The group can request the definition to be revealed to aid clue generation. Students take turns being the guesser and assess progress by the number of successfully guessed words, with and without clues. Guesser or group performance can be compared to introduce a competitive element. The game was tested with 38-second-level students at Queen's University Belfast. Institutional ethical approval and informed consent were obtained prior to the study. Students completed a pre-test and then were assigned to a nonplaying group or a group that played the game in groups of 3-6 for 20 minutes. Both groups completed a post-test and evaluation survey. Playing groups had an average improvement of 9.1% and 5.1% in sessions 1 and 2, respectively, whereas nonplaying groups showed changes of 4.1% and -1.4%. Only the improvement in scores in the playing groups was significant (session 1 p = 0.031, session 2 p = 0.047). All agreed the game was helpful for revising lecture content; 95% agreed it would be a useful addition to their studies, and 97% enjoyed playing the game. An e-copy of the cards can be requested from the corresponding author.

Anatomy is a challenging topic, and educators have used games as a tool to teach the content. The three-dimensional aspects of anatomy provide unique advantages and challenges for presentation in a tabletop game format. Games are built on mechanics, which include the actions players take, such as rolling dice to move a pawn. Integration of the game mechanics with learning goals can lead to better outcomes by allowing players to explore the content through gameplay. We hypothesize that educators making games for anatomy education will have adopted tabletop game mechanisms that facilitate this integration of the educational content with the gameplay. To explore this a body of games for anatomy education was generated from online sources of games and the literature. Online and literature content, including game rules or videos when available, were reviewed, and mechanisms were categorized by the framework in Building Blocks of Tabletop Game design. Thirty-two games with sufficient information for analysis were identified, and the relation of the game mechanics to the educational content is described. The most common mechanics connected to the learning goals were question and answers, communication limits and set collection. Strongly integrated examples included using tabletop mechanics to travel through neuroanatomy, collecting related sets of anatomic components and tracing pathways for the spread of oral infections. We have found designers of games for anatomy education have adopted variable tabletop game mechanics based on the content area being presented, ranging from games as a framework for quiz questions to more robustly integrated educational content.

Although ultrasound (US) appears to complement traditional anatomy teaching, limited objective data exist on its efficacy. Existing literature often relies on student perceptions rather than performance-based outcomes. Additionally, the role of spatial understanding (SU)—the ability to mentally manipulate and interpret 3D anatomical relationships—and cognitive load (CL)—the mental effort required to learn—remains underexplored in the context of US-based instruction. The study consisted of three parts, with assessments before and after the US session. Prior to the session, students completed two paper-based tests on SU and cardiovascular system (CVS) anatomy. During the session, cardiac anatomy was explored through an introduction to US physics, a practical demonstration, and hands-on practice. Post-session, SU and CVS knowledge were reassessed, and participants completed a CL Scale Questionnaire. Thirty-one students participated in the study. Pre- and post-testing of CVS anatomy knowledge showed a mean increase of 11.33% (p < 0.05), while participants' mean SU scores improved from 65.71% to 81.04% (p < 0.05). The highest student rating on the CL Scale was observed when measuring the germane load, specifically the item assessing perceived learning (8.55 ± 1.31), while the lowest rating was reported for measurement of extraneous load, particularly the item assessing distractions (1.23 ± 1.61). This study provided insightful reports on the efficacy of US on SU and CL in anatomy education, showing its potential to improve learning outcomes and prepare students for clinical practice.

As emerging technologies reshape both the body and how we represent it, anatomical education stands at a threshold. Virtual dissection tools, AI-generated images, and immersive platforms are redefining how students learn anatomy, while real-world bodies are becoming hybridized through implants, neural interfaces, and bioengineered components. This Viewpoint explores what it means to teach human anatomy when the body is no longer entirely natural, and the image is no longer entirely real. Based on recent evidence and educational reflections, it suggests that anatomy can serve as a critical human science, one that goes beyond structural knowledge, encouraging students to develop visual literacy, structural reasoning, and ethical awareness. As experiences with donated bodies are replaced with digital models, students risk losing contact with the lived, variable, and vulnerable aspects of the human form. Yet, rather than resisting change, anatomists can respond by integrating new tools within a pedagogical model grounded in presence and meaning. In an age where biology and technology are converging with unexpected speed, anatomy offers a powerful lens to question not only how bodies work, but what bodies mean. The role of the anatomist is therefore both conservative and visionary: to hold the line of deep biological knowledge, while opening the door to critical engagement with the hybrid human condition.

Educational materials advocating whole-body donation must be accurate, easy to read, and transparent, as one potential solution to the fact that the supply of donations is not keeping pace with educational demand, thereby disrupting anatomy education programs. The use of AI technologies to supplement communications with prospective donors and next of kin deserves investigation to determine whether LLM-based approaches meet the common requirements for effective communication. This study contributes to the limited literature on LLM-supported communications by presenting a comparative quantitative benchmark and an adaptable evaluation framework. Five LLMs (ChatGPT-4o, Grok3.0, Claude4Sonnet, Gemini2.5 Flash, DeepSeekR1) were used to generate responses to six frequently asked questions about body donation in Turkish. Four anatomists evaluated accuracy, quality, readability, and vocabulary diversity. Differences between models were statistically analyzed. The two top-performing models, ChatGPT-4o and Grok3.0, achieved mean quality scores of 21.7 ± 2.8 and 21.0 ± 5.1 on a 25-point checklist, and 4.58 ± 0.88 and 4.25 ± 1.03 on a 5-point global quality scale, significantly outperforming the remaining three systems (p < 0.037). Both maintained a below-secondary-school level on two validated readability indices (scores ≥67.8 and ≥40.2). LLM-produced body donation materials (e.g., informational texts and FAQs) may help promote the importance of whole-body donations by providing accessible and reliable information, potentially streamlining the creation of first drafts and reducing staff workload. Given the sensitivity of donation decisions, ethical transparency, cultural sensitivity, and continuous human oversight are essential safeguards. Therefore, LLM use for such purposes should be governed by clear governance frameworks, regular expert audits, and publicly disclosed quality metrics.

Self-efficacy and anatomical knowledge have been shown to be important in the development of medical students. Validated instruments designed to measure the construct of anatomical self-efficacy during the clinical years of medical school are limited. In this study, the Anatomical Self-Efficacy Instrument for Clinical Clerkships (ASEI-CC) was developed, and evidence for the reliability of the scores and the validity of the interpretations of the scores was gathered. The ASEI-CC consisted of 10- Likert-type items designed to measure anatomical self-efficacy, with higher scores indicating higher levels of anatomical self-efficacy. To conduct pilot testing for the ASEI-CC, a sample of 99 medical students rotating through the medicine, surgery, pediatrics, neurology, family medicine, and obstetrics and gynecology clerkships at a Southeastern institution in 2023 was recruited to complete an anonymous survey at the conclusion of an anatomy workshop. In the sample of 99 medical students in this study, the observed means of the scores on the items of the ASEI-CC ranged from 3.84 to 4.37, representing an average response of “fairly confident” to “very confident” on each item. Exploratory factor analysis with principal axis factoring yielded a unidimensional factor structure that explained 62.6% of the variance, with all 10 items having a factor loading greater than 0.4. This study provides evidence that supports the reliability of scores and the validity of the interpretations of scores on the ASEI-CC and extends scholarship about the anatomical self-efficacy of medical students to the clinical years of the medical school curriculum.