A Unique Approach to Learning/Teaching Anatomy

Abstract

Context: The present day teaching emphasizes on teaching methodologies that capture the interest of students and 
increase their satisfaction. 
Objective: To assess the effectiveness of nontraditional teaching methodologies such as storytelling for teaching 
anatomy and to determine whether this method enhances student satisfaction. 
cell: 
Materials and Methods: The study was carried out in Foundation University Medical College, Rawalpindi 
(Pakistan) on first year MBBS students (n=87). The students were given a story, adapted from: “The case of the 
dividing 
mitosis and meiosis in the cellular court” (http://www.sciencecases. org/mitosis 
_meiosis/mitosis_meiosis.asp) by Clyde Freeman Herreid. Copyright held by National center for case study teaching 
in science, University at Buffalo, state university of New York. Used with permission. The students were divided 
into small groups who discussed the learning issues in three interactive sessions, after which, they were given a 
surprise assessment test and an anonymous questionnaire which was to be answered on an open scale of 1-10 (1 
being the minimum score and 10 maximum) regarding the effectiveness of this methodology.  
Findings: Students enjoyed the sessions and would like similar sessions in future (mean evaluation score: 
5.92/10±3.15). An overall satisfaction score of 6.52±1.75 was obtained. Mean of assessment results was 
92.7%±10.4. Some students felt that it was more time consuming as compared to lectures and could not be used to 
cover all topics. 
Conclusion: Teaching anatomy by storytelling captured the interest of majority of the students who found it an 
effective teaching methodology. However, other traditional tools of teaching should also be an integral part of 
anatomy curriculum.