{"id":486,"date":"2014-07-30T11:25:38","date_gmt":"2014-07-30T16:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jenniferhuddleston\/?page_id=486"},"modified":"2016-09-05T20:52:02","modified_gmt":"2016-09-06T01:52:02","slug":"biol-491-and-biol-493-human-anatomy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jenniferhuddleston\/teaching\/reflections-on-courses-and-teaching-evaluations\/biol-491-and-biol-493-human-anatomy\/","title":{"rendered":"BIOL 491 and BIOL 493: Human Anatomy Lecture and Lab"},"content":{"rendered":"

This course is a class that students who are pursuing professional school in physical therapy, dentistry, optometry, and medicine often take towards the end of their degree programs at ACU. Most of the students enrolled in this class will be taking gross anatomy in professional school the following fall semester.\u00a0 I see it as my job to prepare them as much as possible for this experience by giving them a solid foundation in human anatomy.<\/p>\n

My human anatomy lecture class is not a blow-off class.\u00a0 It is difficult. The students must thoroughly learn the information in order to earn an “A” or a “B” in the course.\u00a0 The lecture exams are multiple choice and in the same format as the questions in the gross anatomy class they will take the next semester. I use sample test banks from medical schools to design the exams.<\/p>\n

There is so much material that I cannot possibly address each piece of learned information on the exams.\u00a0 I tell the students to learn as much as they can and that my exams serve to sample their brains.\u00a0 I encourage them not to just learn the material they think will be on the exam, but everything.\u00a0 Some students thrive under this challenge.\u00a0 Others do not.<\/p>\n

I do not believe the students typically enjoy the class as they are taking it.\u00a0 It is a lot of memorization and very time-consuming. They have to work hard. I see a handful of former students and hear from some through email after they have been at medical school for a few months.\u00a0 They always thank me for preparing them so well.\u00a0 They even volunteer to\u00a0 give my current students a pep talk! See the Notes from Students<\/a> section of this portfolio for a sample of some of these.<\/p>\n

“What is the best way to teach human anatomy?”\u00a0 This is a question I often ask myself.\u00a0 I want to teach students the anatomy of the human body in more meaningful and relevant ways. I want the extremely motivated, detail-oriented students to learn and I want to provide a scaffolding where those that do not have those personality traits can also be successful.<\/p>\n

To answer my question of how to teach human anatomy better, I have listened to more experienced science professors and participated in several professional development opportunities. The best advice I received about how to teach human anatomy was from a Chemistry professor who said, “Keep the lab and lecture synchronized. The lab should support the lecture. The lab and the lecture are one class.”\u00a0 It seems like a simple concept, but it can sometimes be difficult to implement.\u00a0 I plan carefully at the beginning of the semester and am mindful during the semester to follow the plan of lab and lecture synchronization.\u00a0 I am able to cross-reference the lab and lecture during class discussions so as to increase connections and enhance learning.<\/p>\n

The Anatomy in Clay Workshop is a type of\"IMG_0610\"<\/a> professional development I participated in during September 2012.\u00a0 The premise behind the clay learning system is for the students to build anatomical structures out of clay and attach them to a plastic manikin.\u00a0 See the image of the brain and digestive system to the right. The slogan for the manufacturer of the system is “The mind cannot forget what the hands have learned.”\u00a0 I have used this system in the Human Anatomy Lab since the Fall of 2012. I have had mixed reviews from the students about the clay activities. One comment from a student simply stated, “clay = the devil”. I have backed off on doing so much clay work and have received better reviews, such as this one:\u00a0The integrative teaching model using clay, models and visualization software made the learning process easier. Moreover the close correlation to the course made it a great way to learn the hard material.<\/p>\n

I also joined HAPS (Human Anatomy & Physiology Society) and attended the national \"HAPS<\/a>meeting in Jacksonville, Florida, in May 2014 (along with Rebecca Hunter and Patricia Hernandez).\u00a0 This meeting is for instructors of human anatomy and physiology to learn how to teach this difficult material in more meaningful ways.<\/p>\n

A major focus of the HAPS meeting is how to use interactive activities to enhance learning in the classroom.\u00a0 There are also interesting update seminars.\u00a0 One of the most intriguing was by Dr. Timothy Wilson from the University of Western Ontario.\u00a0 He did a study of students viewing PowerPoint slides of Anatomy and found that if there were too many labels on a single slide, the students actually underwent a physiological stress response.\u00a0 The take home message was to reduce stress to increase learning.\u00a0 When I heard this I realized that my students were being truthful when they told me that Anatomy class stressed them out!\u00a0 During the lecture time, I had been using too many labels. I am gradually changing the way that I present material in lecture.\u00a0 I hope that one day my lecture and lab will be so synchronous in the material and activities that the courses will truly be indistinguishable from one another.<\/p>\n

Teaching strategies employed in human anatomy lab and lecture.<\/strong> The format of the anatomy lecture is predominantly lecture with a few interactive activities and assessment activities.\u00a0 During the lecture I try to use a variety of ways to help the students visualize the content – figures on PowerPoint slides, skeletons and anatomical models, short video clips and Visible Body demonstrations.\u00a0 Visible Body is computer software that allows body systems and structures to be visualized in three dimensions.\u00a0 In the lab I use all of the previously listed visualization methods in addition to lab manual questions, labeling, critical thinking questions and a digital anatomy atlas that the students make themselves as a study guide.\u00a0 The digital anatomy atlas assignment came as a result of my realization that students were taking pictures with their cell phones of the anatomical models in lab and using those to study for lab exams.\u00a0 I now require them to do this, but they must also label the images correctly and completely so they have a reliable study guide.\u00a0 Also, each person must create their own atlases and not just share them.\u00a0 This way each student is going through the process of thinking about the models and labeling them properly.<\/p>\n

Here are several of the reviews from this lecture and lab:<\/p>\n