Teaching Beyond the Classroom

Over a hundred years ago, John Dewey complained that education was static in subject matter, authoritarian in its methods, mainly passive and receptive … and did not go beyond the provision of a fixed and rigid environment. Dewey echoes our current struggle to bring meaning to anatomical education beyond knowledge of anatomy itself. Knowledge of anatomy takes on meaning through a pedagogy of practical experiences. An amalgam ‐‐ content, pedagogy, arrangement of students, and depth of experiences designed ‐‐ makes an Anatomy Curriculum. Activities configured within the cultural milieu are the dynamic agents that give meaning to what anatomy students learn. Methods that arrange individuals into small groups have the greatest potential for engagement; and foster learning, self‐expression, creative problem‐solving, collaborative learning, “professional” behaviors, creative use of resources, mutual responsibility and coordination. Students teaching and learning from each other increases feedback per individual ‐‐ compared to large‐group instruction. Anatomical content formulated in terms of activities ‐‐ configured within a pedagogy that facilitates interactive expression, inquiry, and problem‐solving ‐‐ maximizes individual feedback, the underlying mechanism of learning, and prepares students for success in their occupation, and for life itself.