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Anatomy Academy: A Catalyst For Personal Growth And Development In Undergraduate Pre‐Professional And Medical Students
Author(s) -
Steed Kevin,
WilsonAshworth Heather,
Wisco Jonathan
Publication year - 2015
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.29.1_supplement.693.3
Subject(s) - medical education , charter , psychology , general partnership , mathematics education , medicine , political science , law
Anatomy Academy (AA) is an educational intervention program that has aided in the instruction of over a thousand elementary age students in basic anatomy and physiology through didactic small group and physical activities in attempts to impact childhood obesity and interest in science. Founded in 2012, through a partnership with the School of Medicine at UCLA and one Los Angeles, CA charter school, AA has expanded to a dozen schools in the greater Salt Lake City area with the support of the College of Life Sciences at BYU, Dept. of Neurobiology and Anatomy at U of U, and Dept. of Biology at UVU. We have received overwhelming positive response from school administrators, teachers, our student volunteers, and especially the elementary students. We ascertained the impact of AA on mentor teaching experience through a series of weekly post‐lesson reflections. We asked the following questions: 1) what did you learn about yourself from the experience of working as an Anatomy Academy mentor? 2) How have you changed/developed? 3) What will you take with you into your future career? The responses we received included a realization of an ability to make a difference in the world now, insight to the effectiveness of guiding students through material rather than lecturing, awareness of the value of respect in the learning environment. AA has had a profound impact on our mentors, and in many cases has inspired a new direction, or renewing interest in research topics or career goals. We assert that AA is an invaluable engaged learning experience that may shape the type of physician or professional that many of the students will become.