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Using a Mental Obstacle Course to Engage and Elevate Learning in an Anatomy and Physiology Laboratory
Author(s) -
Marvar Sarah Knight,
Hazen Rebecca F.
Publication year - 2020
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.2020.34.s1.07111
Subject(s) - class (philosophy) , obstacle , mathematics education , psychology , computer science , medical education , medicine , artificial intelligence , political science , law
OBJECTIVE In order to increase student engagement and learning in a combined anatomy and physiology undergraduate teaching laboratory we designed a type of mental obstacle course. Students completed a series of ‘quests’ designed to increase student learning and develop skills such as critical thinking and analysis. We used this strategy specifically in classes that lacked dynamic student activities and that we felt might otherwise be less engaging and impactful. METHODS In laboratory classes of 15 students, we designed between 5–8 stations comprised of multistep quests on a specific aspect of the central topic of the laboratory. Students worked in small groups of 2–3, could consult with peers and use outside resources available to them to complete the tasks. The groups of students were required to complete the quests and submit their answers in order to finish the class. Examples of quests that we used were reviewing x‐ray images of various human pathologies of the skeletal system and answering a series of questions about those images including anatomical information, normal physiological processes and apparent pathology of the case. A second example was students were required to create a model of a synovial joint using modeling clay and then annotate the model with information on anatomical features and their functions. RESULTS As a class we reviewed the tasks and the answers in order to correct any mistakes and student misconceptions. A week later we reviewed the material in quiz form to assess the success of the obstacle course on student understanding. We found that some of the tasks were more successful than others and were occasionally surprised by the results, such as the ability of the students to recall some of the clinical cases from a task. CONCLUSIONS The quest laboratory set‐up was popular with students and increased their engagement with the material and with each other. Using student feedback and quiz results we plan to improve the design of the tasks and further increase student engagement and understanding.