How Haptics and Drawing Enhance the Learning of Anatomy

Abstract

Students' engagement with two-dimensional (2D) representations as opposed to three-dimensional (3D) representations of anatomy such as in dissection, is significant in terms of the depth of their comprehension. This qualitative study aimed to understand how students learned anatomy using observational and drawing activities that included touch, called haptics. Five volunteer second year medical students at the University of Cape Town participated in a six-day educational intervention in which a novel "haptico-visual observation and drawing" (HVOD) method was employed. Data were collected through individual interviews as well as a focus group discussion. The HVOD method was successfully applied by all the participants, who reported an improvement of their cognitive understanding and memorization of the 3D form of the anatomical part. All the five participants described the development of a "mental picture" of the object as being central to "deep learning." The use of the haptic senses coupled with the simultaneous act of drawing enrolled sources of information that were reported by the participants to have enabled better memorization. We postulate that the more sources of information about an object, the greater degree of complexity could be appreciated, and therefore the more clearly it could be captured and memorized. The inclusion of haptics has implications for cadaveric dissection versus non-cadaveric forms of learning. This study was limited by its sample size as well as the bias and position of the researchers, but the sample of five produced a sufficient amount of data to generate a conceptual model and hypothesis.

The Effect of Stereoscopic Augmented Reality Visualization on Learning Anatomy and the Modifying Effect of Visual‐Spatial Abilities: A Double‐Center Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Although, the educational value is being debated (Azer and Eizenberg, ), cadaveric dissections provide a complete visual and tactile learning experience of anatomy which is three‐dimensional (3D) by nature. Features such as stereopsis (visual sense of depth), dynamic exploration (the possibility to view the object of study from different angles), and haptic feedback (sense of touch) are crucial for the engagement in 3D anatomy (Klatzky and Lederman, ; Reid et al, ).…”

Art as a Learning Tool: Medical Student Perspectives on Implementing Visual Art into Histology Education

“…This study is among others which have used visual art for basic medical science education, but is in a smaller group focusing on visual art in histology specifically [14,23-25]. It is unique in that it assesses students’ perception of the experience as well as intentions for future behavior.…”

“…For example, students may be taken to museums and taught methods of assessing key visual characteristics in pieces of visual art. Creating visual art to directly teach and learn basic science concepts has been less frequently reported, but has had described successes, particularly in anatomy [14-21]. While learning the visually dense and often foreign field of histology, medical students may struggle with the material if they have limited previous exposure, lack an open attitude toward the content, or if the educational experience in histology is primarily non-interactive, passive didactics [1].…”

Cultural practices of the Zulu ethnic group on the body and their influence on body donation

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