An Impact of Images on Multiple‐Choice Questions in Anatomy Examination Score in Nursing Students

Abstract

Anatomy examinations often have a key visual component with the inclusion of many images, and research shows that visualization can have a positive effect on learning (Vorstenbosch et al., 2013) while altering learner's cognitive load, memory and examination anxiety (Mayer RE, 2005). However, most of the studies on the effects of images on anatomy examinations are focused in medical, pre‐nursing, or pre‐health science students but have not yet been assessed in nursing students. To assess the effects of images on anatomy examination scores, quizzes and final examination containing multiple‐choice questions with greater or lesser anatomical images was assessed. Results show that inclusion of more anatomical images in a multiple‐choice anatomy quiz (quizzes #1 and 2, section BN01) significantly (P<0.01) increased their percent class average compared to a similar quiz with fewer images (Quiz #1 and 2, section BN02). In quiz#3, reducing the number of images by 50% in anatomy section BN01 resulted in a significant decrease (P<0.05) in their percent class average compared to an image‐rich quiz in section BN02. However, the final anatomy examination containing an equal number of images in both anatomy sections (BN01 & BN02) did not alter their percent class average. Interestingly, the percent score of individual questions from the examinations with images was significantly higher than the same questions without images. In conclusion, the results from this study indicate that image inclusion in anatomy examinations can have a positive impact on recall of anatomical knowledge and may provide a hint to an answer in anatomy examinations in nursing students.Support or Funding InformationNoneThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Learning anatomy before and during COVID-19 pandemic: Students’ perceptions and exam performance

“…In the detailed analysis of the examination scores, we noticed that the mean examination scores of MCQs in online class were relatively higher than the face-to-face class. It is known that correctly solving MCQs requires better understanding of the contents, and this has been acquainted through online teaching methods [25] , [26] . Our findings are consistent with a previous study, which reported that the online learning revealed higher outcomes than the conventional face-to-face methods [27] .…”

The Impact of the Images in Multiple-choice Questions on Anatomy Examination Scores of Nursing Students

“…Recently, we reported that nursing students retained 71.0% of their first-year anatomical knowledge in their second year (Narnaware & Neumeier, 2019, 2020b and 51.6% in third-year studies (Narnaware & Neumeier, 2021c). We have initiated many interventional strategies to improve students' long-term retention of anatomical and physiological knowledge, including the use of modern teaching technology (Narnaware & Neumeier, 2021a), content reinforcement (Narnaware & Chahal, 2019), and online and in-class activities (Narnaware et al, 2019). Despite human anatomy being considered a 'visual science' and an imagereliant subject, the impact of images on anatomy exam scores in nursing students has not yet been assessed.…”