Designing Anatomy Teaching Spaces to Meet the Needs of Today’s Learner

Wessels, Quenton and Taylor, Adam and Jacobson, Christian (2020) Designing Anatomy Teaching Spaces to Meet the Needs of Today’s Learner. In: Teaching Anatomy. Springer, Cham, pp. 289-299. ISBN 9783030432829

Abstract

There are three key aspects to anatomy pedagogy: the when, how much, and how. The relative importance of all three will vary to a certain extent depending on teaching methods, but all require an adequate learning environment. The design of this learning environment needs to take into consideration student learning, local culture, and assessment. Within this context as much attention should be given to the development of the informal and hidden curricula as with that of the formal curriculum. Ultimately, it is assessment and its milieu that will drive learning in order to assure matching student behavior. Here the authors provide a succinct, practical, and problem-oriented approach to the design of anatomy teaching spaces that addresses the needs of today’s anatomy student. The authors also include key design considerations as well as aspects of the design process, such as the provision for appropriate sensory stimulation, plumbing and electricity requirements, surface area per student, the attainment of learning objectives, catering for assessment, e-learning capabilities, and a dynamic environment that can be suitably reconfigured.