Students’ Approach to Anatomical Terminology and Retention in Histology

& Objective Anatomical terminology, with its Latin and Greek roots, can be complex for students to comprehend as they navigate courses in the anatomical disciplines. Graduate students in anatomy courses have varying prior experience with classical languages and medical/anatomical terminology which impacts how they approach learning. While rote memorization of terms is often thought to be the prevailing approach, students may use many different methods to develop a vocabulary in the anatomical sciences. Although learning terminology is a necessary component of anatomical science courses, few studies focus on how students acquire their anatomical vocabulary and the impact it has on learning outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate how students approach anatomical terminology in a histology course, their retention of common terms, and the relationship between terminology retention and course performance. Materials & Methods Students in a graduate histology course at Indiana University were encouraged to voluntarily complete a post‐course quiz. Students were asked to provide brief definitions for 10 anatomical terms and 10 combining forms relevant to material covered in histology and describe their approach to learning terminology. Suitable terms utilized in the instrument were determined by the frequency of each term in the required texts for the course. Quantitative data was analyzed using Spearman's correlation to determine the relationship between final course grades and quiz results. Responses to the learning approach questions were analyzed using thematic analysis Results Twelve students (36%) completed the post‐course quiz. The average score on the quiz was a 63%. There was a statistically significant positive correlation (r s =.716, p=.009) between final grade and performance on the terminology quiz. Indicating students who performed well on the quiz also performed well in the histology course. Qualitative results suggest that students with some anatomical terminology experience found their background helpful in recalling terms. Many also reported making attempts to “break down” the words into more familiar parts. Others expressed a desire to understand the terminology prior to beginning the course to gain a deeper understanding of the content. Conclusion Overall, students felt that recognizing anatomical terminology helped them understand histology more clearly despite their performance in the course or on the terminology quiz. The relationship between terminology retention and final grade suggests that terminology remains an important component in engaging with and learning anatomical content. This study demonstrates a need for further research on how students obtain and use their anatomical vocabulary throughout the anatomical disciplines. Significance/Implication Understanding how students naturally approach anatomical terminology and the outcomes of those approaches may provide valuable insight for the development of interventions to assist in the learning of anatomical terminology and content.