While traditional anatomy education often emphasizes passive learning and rote memorization, it seldom employs constructivist theories that focus on active, hands-on experiences for effective learning. This study tests the hypothesis that tactile experiences with modeling clay enhance geometric mental representation more effectively than verbal…

Dental anatomy education for dental technology students should be developed in alignment with digital dental laboratory practices. We hypothesized that a virtually assisted sketching-based dental anatomy teaching module could improve students' acquisition of skills essential for digital restoration design. The second-year dental technology…

Plastination, a permanent preservation method for human tissues and organs, is increasingly being used in anatomy education. However, there is a paucity of systematic reviews and meta-analyses summarizing the educational efficacy of plastinated specimens. This meta-analysis compared the assessment scores of students exposed to plastinated…

Visuospatial ability plays a crucial role in anatomy related study success as studies have shown that students with high scores on a mental rotation test (MRT) perform better on anatomy exams. We hypothesized that segmenting anatomical structures on radiological images might impact students' visuospatial abilities as measured by MRT scores.…

Spatial abilities (SAs) are cognitive resources used to mentally manipulate representations of objects to solve problems. Haptic abilities (HAs) represent tactile interactions with real-world objects transforming somatic information into mental representations. Both are proposed to be factors in anatomy education, yet relationships between SAs and…

Purpose: The elements of impaired swallowing biomechanics are visually assessed and scored by clinicians using a standardized and validated tool for assessing type and severity of physiological impairments using the Modified Barium Swallow Impairment Profile (MBSImP). However, the functional anatomical correlates that underly noted impairments…

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,…

Creative thinking is an unorthodox way of thinking to produce fresh and new ideas. Creative thinking can be trained using innovative learning strategies. This study aimed to explore creative thinking aspects in the Digital Mind Maps (DMM) created by Universitas Islam Riau, Indonesia, students who were enrolled in Human Anatomy and Physiology…

Visuospatial skills are considered important attributes when learning anatomy and there is evidence suggesting that this ability can be improved with training techniques including drawing. The Mental Rotations Test (MRT) has been routinely used to assess visuospatial ability. This study aimed to introduce students to drawing as a learning strategy…

Although the methods for medical education continue to evolve due to the development of medicines, the cadaver dissection course still plays a fundamental role. The cadaver dissection course allows students to learn to handle instruments correctly while actively exploring three-dimensional anatomy. However, dissection comes with the risk of…

The recent coronavirus disease (COVID-19) forced pre-university professionals to modify the educational system. This work aimed to determine the effects of pandemic situation on students' access to medical studies by comparing the performance of medical students. We evaluated the performance of students enrolled in a subject taught in the first…

Cadaveric dissection offers an important opportunity for students to develop their ideas about death and dying. However, it remains largely unknown how this experience impacts medical students' fear of death. The current study aimed to address this gap by describing how fear of death changed during a medical gross anatomy dissection course and how…

Spatial ability (SA) is the cognitive capacity to understand and mentally manipulate concepts of objects, remembering relationships among their parts and those of their surroundings. Spatial ability provides a learning advantage in science and may be useful in anatomy and technical skills in health care. This study aimed to assess the relationship…

Serious games may resolve problems relating to low motivation in complex medical topics such as anatomy. However, they remain relatively novel introductions to the science of learning, and further research is required to ascertain their benefits. This study describes the overall development and testing of a digital serious boardgame designed to…

Anatomy is an important component in the vertical integration of basic science and clinical practice. Two common pedagogies are cadaveric dissection and examination of prosected specimens. Comparative studies mostly evaluate their immediate effectiveness. A randomized controlled trial design was employed to compare both the immediate and long-term…