Body-Painting: A Tool Which Can Be Used to Teach Surface Anatomy

Abstract

Introduction: The primary method of learning the surface anatomy is by making the students mark structures on mummified bodies. The students feel that learning the surface anatomy on mummified cadavers is not interesting. The present project on learning the surface anatomy through the body painting method was undertaken to evoke interest among the students. Materials and Methods:Physiotherapy and dental under graduate students who volunteered were involved in this study. A few surface anatomy classes were conducted by using the traditional method and a few more by using the body painting exercise. Non toxic body paints of various colours and brushes of different sizes were used for the body painting.Results: A feedback was obtained from the students by using a structured questionnaire. The students opined that the body painting method was advantageous to them in learning the human anatomy. They also felt that they could have more practice sessions in any setting other than in the classroom and that they did not need to rely upon the mummified bodies. They described the body painting method as self explanatory, which gave them the feel of live structures. Conclusion:This project was successful in achieving its objectives as the students felt that the method was exciting, with lots of fun during the learning. The body painting method was well accepted by the students as an effective method for learning the surface and the clinical anatomy.

Acceptance of the bodypainting as supportive method to learn the surface locomotor apparatus anatomy of the horse

“…It is believed that these positive answers are related to the direct contact with live animals that stimulated students' clinical perspectives. These results were consistent with those on bodypainting in human anatomy [3,8].…”

“…The sense of depth in surface anatomy is a great limitation for the bodypaiting. The use of cadaver is still the best method to construct a 3-dimensional anatomy concept, as stated previously [8]; however, the bodypainting can be an interesting tool to be added in anatomy teaching, even to create positioning comprehension to not palpable internal organs.…”

“…Once the results revealed a high prevalence of students who felt capable to find anatomical structures in live animals after session; the bodypainting improved self-reliance and clinical skills that was observed in India [8].…”

“…We are aware that the Test 2 was applied just 1 h after the bodypainting session and it reflected on Test 2 grade. In addition, we agreed that colourful visual images increase students' memories [3,8], which also reflected in the grades. Nevertheless, we emphasize that we were not evaluating the knowledge gain or retain, but the attention students kept in that experience due to the importance of new methods to improve the students interest in veterinary anatomy.…”

“…In the last 50 years, the way of teaching has not improved so much, besides the addition of lecture presentation resources like the use of multimedia projectors. The classical approach solely to teaching the locomotor apparatus of the domestic animals, including lectures and presentation of cadavers, resulted in decreasing student attendance over time [8,10,11]. Students usually complain against monotony, passive posture, formaldehyde unpleasant effects and how descriptive lessons would help them in clinical practices.…”