Teaching histology with analogies

Wessels, Quenton and Taylor, Adam (2023) Teaching histology with analogies. In: Graphic Medicine, Humanizing Healthcare and Novel Approaches in Anatomical Education :. Springer, Cham, pp. 189-204. ISBN 9783031390340

Abstract

Students find histology both visually and conceptually challenging. The use of analogies has the potential to scaffold learning, foster students’ interest, and promote recall. Analogies serve to introduce foreign and difficult concepts through the use of familiar ideas and serve as a scaffold for students to build on and gain an understanding of an unknown concept (target). The current chapter explores the use of analogies in histology education and provides an outline to the use of analogies toward the facilitation of students’ learning and visualization of histology. It also addresses the role of analogies in students’ engagement in the learning process of histology. The authors draw on pre-constructed analogies used in histology textbooks and explore the use of analogies toward an analogy-enhanced approach. Also explored are the application of the Teaching With Analogy (TWA) model, its integration in learning environments, as well as aspects of promoting and utilizing collaborative learning in the form of student-generated analogies.