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Anatomy Observational Outreach: a Multimodal Activity to Enhance Anatomical Education in Undergraduate Students
Author(s) -
GonzalezSola Maryvi,
Hyder Aneesah,
Rosario Martin G
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2019.33.1_supplement.441.7
Subject(s) - outreach , observational study , kinesiology , medical education , attendance , session (web analytics) , psychology , medicine , world wide web , political science , computer science , law , economics , economic growth
Undergraduate students often have difficulty relating Anatomy and Physiology (A&P) course contents to their future careers, leading to a lack of interest and degree completion. The purpose of the Anatomy Observational Outreach (AOO) was to raise students' interest in STEM and Allied Health fields, help students make the connection and application between the information presented in A&P labs and real‐world activities, as well as to effectively encourage students to pursue graduate degrees in Allied Health Careers. The outreach consisted of 100 undergraduate A&P students from Texas Woman's University's biology, nursing, kinesiology, health studies, physical therapy, and occupational therapy departments. The methodology consisted of a 15‐minute orientation, graduate student panel Q&A session, 30‐minute cadaver and organ prosections, 30‐minute Anatomage table demonstration, anatomical models, and x‐rays. To measure the impact of the outreach, students were given identical 10‐question pretests and post‐tests, of which each question accounted for 1 point. The results of the students' post‐tests demonstrated a 98% increase in anatomical knowledge and an 84% increase in interest in graduate degrees in STEM and Allied Health fields. Moreover, 81% of students felt all of the activities and tools were useful, while 19% concluded the cadaver prosections were the strongest sole educational aids. It was also found that of the 100 students in attendance, 55% were ethnic minorities and 90% were gender minorities. We conclude that the AOO yielded distinguished results in the depth, retention, and application of A&P knowledge, along with increased interest, excitement, and motivation for pursuing tertiary STEM and Allied Health degrees among undergraduates. The future goal for the AOO is to establish a biannual “Anatomy Week” to encourage and inspire students and minority scholars to further their tertiary education in STEM and Allied Health fields. This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal .