European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

HANDS-ON NEUROANATOMY LEARNING EXERCISE FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Surbhi Wadhwa, Sabita Mishra*, Sushant S. Das and Neelam Vasudeva

ABSTRACT

Neuroanatomy is a daunting subject for an undergraduate student. It’s understanding and knowledge however, is key to successfully perform various interventional clinical procedures and interpret traditional and newly emerging medical imaging in the fields of neurology, neurosurgery and interventional radiology. In order to help the students to internalize and form a visual picture of the key structures in the central nervous system the students were asked to design 3-D physical models for clinically relevant topics in neuroanatomy. An anonymous feedback questionnaire to assess the efficacy and utility of the exercise was then given to the students. Our results show 74.9% of students agreed that this activity increased their interest in learning of neuroanatomy and helped them to visualize the 3-D anatomy of the structures better. 80% of students actively participated in the execution of model of their own group, and 48.2% also demonstrated interest in the model making exercise of their peers. Despite the lack of interest shown in the model making activity of their peers, 73.9% of the students agreed that the presentation of the models made by their colleagues benefitted them too. The students enjoyed and benefitted from this hands on neuro-model making activity and recommended such exercises for the future batches to create interest, enhance learning and decrease “neurophobia”.

Keywords: neuroanatomy, undergraduate, three-dimensional models, physical models, anatomy, anatomy teaching.