Metacognition includes the processes that learners use to plan, monitor, and assess their learning and is tied to academic performance and growth-oriented attitudes toward learning. Learning anatomy presents challenges to learners at all levels, and for many, necessitates a change in learning strategies and metacognitive awareness. We sought to…

This article describes a community collaborative project, "I've got yer back," that utilized the craft of needle felting to raise awareness and develop understanding of the anatomy of the human spine. The project took place in 2023 and engaged with participants from across the United Kingdom and abroad and its completion was timed to…

Gross anatomy courses utilize cadaver dissection to teach identification, topography, and spatial relationships of organs. The deconstructive nature of dissection, however, focuses students' attention on the "big picture", followed by a discovery of details. This approach may be useful for many, however some students may prefer to…

Surface anatomy is an important skill for students in preparation for patient care, and peer examination is often used to teach musculoskeletal and surface anatomy. An alternative pedagogical approach is to use bodies represented in artworks. Represented bodies display fictive anatomy, providing students with the opportunity to apply their…

Cognitive structures are the mental representation of domain knowledge and its organization. A preliminary investigation of the cognitive structure of gross anatomy knowledge was conducted on physiotherapy students. The criterion-related validation study examined two data modeling strategies (multidimensional scaling and Pathfinder networks) as…

Insects form a highly diverse taxonomic group, which has fundamental ecological functions, but is currently in a process of mass extinction. Here, we present the first cycle of design, implementation, and assessment of a didactic sequence oriented towards improving pre-service teachers' knowledge and appreciation of insect diversity. A…

Nursing students struggle to retain enough anatomical knowledge to meet their entry to practice competencies, but what knowledge is missing and when this occurs has been previously unexplored. A cohort of 80 nursing students were given multiple choice quizzes to assess their anatomical knowledge on 11 different organ systems during their second,…

Bees play a pivotal role in maintaining ecosystems and securing food for humankind. As such, it is crucial to shape a scientific understanding of bees for school students at a young age so as to value and protect the little creatures. This study is intended to identify teenage students' knowledge and understandings of bees in relation to…

Historically, both donated bodies and unclaimed bodies have been the sources of human bodies for anatomy dissection globally with the latter discouraged for ethical reasons. Ghana lacks well-established body-donation programs, thus relying heavily on unclaimed bodies. Medical doctors benefit foremost from human bodies in their training and…

Voluntary donation is the ethically acceptable method for whole-body acquisition for anatomy education worldwide. In Africa, educational institutions struggle with this since many people remain unwilling to donate their bodies due to the strong influence of cultural and religious beliefs in decision-making. As part of wider efforts to improve the…

In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of integrating ultrasound into undergraduate medical curricula. However, empirical evidence is lacking as to its effect on anatomy learning and related student cognition. Therefore, the present study compared the impact of echocardiography-based instruction with narrated…

Purpose: This study, which is a cross-sectional survey, aims to investigate health-care academics, clinicians and students' perspectives of health-care simulation-based learning (SBL) and extended reality (XR) haptics use within health-care education. Participants' views regarding the application, barriers and facilitators of SBL and XR haptics…

Virtual anatomy is being increasingly adopted in anatomy education. This systematic review evaluated the literature between January 2000 and August 2024 to understand how virtual reality (VR) in Anatomy Education is implemented in Health Sciences and Allied Health, focusing on learning outcomes and student perceptions. Following registration with…

Preparing students for the transition to graduate-level education with greater learning demands in a condensed time frame is a challenging process for health professions educators and incoming students. Prematriculation programs offer a solution for exposing students to the foundational sciences in preparation for the academic rigor of a doctoral…

Peer-assisted learning and group facilitation have been proven to foster active participation in small-group learning, and these effective teaching modalities have been shown to enhance learning outcomes. This study introduced a student peer facilitator role in an anatomy small-group curriculum for pre-clerkship medical students and explored its…