The anatomy of learning anatomy

• Published in: Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice Vol. 15; no. 2; pp. 153 - 165
• Main Authors: Wilhelmsson, Niklas, Dahlgren, Lars Owe, Hult, Håkan, Scheja, Max, Lonka, Kirsti, Josephson, Anna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.05.2010; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Anatomy; Anatomy - education; Approaches to learning; Basic science knowledge; Cognitive Style; Education; Education, Medical, Undergraduate - methods; Educational Strategies; Humans; Inquiry; Interviews; Learning; Medical Education; Medical Students; Original Paper; Pedagogik; Phenomenography; Phenomenology; SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP; Scientific Concepts; Scientific Literacy; SOCIAL SCIENCES; Socialvetenskap; Student learning; Students; Approaches to learning; Student learning; Basic science knowledge; Anatomy; Phenomenography
• ISSN: 1382-4996; 1573-1677; 1573-1677
• DOI: 10.1007/s10459-009-9171-5

The experience of clinical teachers as well as research results about senior medical students’ understanding of basic science concepts has much been debated. To gain a better understanding about how this knowledge-transformation is managed by medical students, this work aims at investigating their ways of setting about learning anatomy. Second-year medical students were interviewed with a focus on their approach to learning and their way of organizing their studies in anatomy. Phenomenographic analysis of the interviews was performed in 2007 to explore the complex field of learning anatomy. Subjects were found to hold conceptions of a dual notion of the field of anatomy and the interplay between details and wholes permeated their ways of studying with an obvious endeavor of understanding anatomy in terms of connectedness and meaning. The students’ ways of approaching the learning task was characterized by three categories of description; the subjects experienced their anatomy studies as memorizing, contextualizing or experiencing. The study reveals aspects of learning anatomy indicating a deficit in meaningfulness. Variation in approach to learning and contextualization of anatomy are suggested as key-elements in how the students arrive at understanding. This should be acknowledged through careful variation of the integration of anatomy in future design of medical curricula.