Internationally, second level curriculum policy for STEM education is concentrating its efforts on promoting curriculum-making pedagogies, with enquiry-based teaching and learning at the forefront of this change. Policy aspirations have not translated well into practice, evidenced by science practical lessons consistently being delivered as…

Prior to the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, anatomy practical sessions at Trinity College Dublin involved eight to 10 students per donor station, rotating between digital learning, anatomical models/osteology, and dissection activities for three hours weekly. To maintain cadaveric participation in the anatomy laboratory while…

Given the important role that anatomical dissection plays in the shaping of medical student attitudes to life and death, these attitudes have not been evaluated in the context of whole body donation for medical science. First year students of anatomy in an Irish university medical school were surveyed by questionnaire before and after the initial…