GROSS NEUROANATOMY OF THE HUMAN BRAIN: A SELF-STUDY DVD THAT
SAVES TIME IN THE NEUROANATOMY LAB AND REDUCES THE NEED FOR “WET”
SPECIMENS
Bruce W. Newton,
Ph.D.*, Department of Neurobiology
& Developmental Sciences,
University
of
Arkansas
for Medical Sciences,
Little Rock
,
Arkansas
72205
U.S.A.
Much of the "wet" laboratory space at the
University
of
Arkansas
for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has been converted to computer labs;
therefore, a new way to teach human brain anatomy, without using a large
number of "wet" specimens had to be developed.
Furthermore, laboratory attendance has steadily dropped for the
past five years, since many students prefer to learn the laboratory
objectives own their own time vs. attending the scheduled laboratory
sessions. Because many
students use computer-assisted instruction, this two-DVD set was produced
to more efficiently teach the basic gross anatomy of the human brain
without having to use a large number of "wet" specimens.
This is important, since obtaining cadaveric neural material is
becoming problematic across the
USA
. To obtain the content for
the DVD’s, the laboratory manual for the UAMS Medical Neuroscience
course was used to catalog all pertinent gross anatomical structures of
the brain and brainstem that the freshman medical students are required to
know. Additional information
was added concerning basic cranial nerve function and neural pathologies.
The material was divided into chapters so students could go to a
particular topic without having to "fast-forward" through the
entire set of contents to reach the chapter of interest.
The ability to skip to a chapter of choice is advantageous when
compared to the aging video tapes that have been used in the past at UAMS.
These DVD's represent an improvement for the Medical Neuroscience
course, since it is the first time that a study aid covering laboratory
objectives can be checked out of the library and studied by students at
their convenience. These DVD's
can be used by undergraduate students, as well as students in any of the
health-related professions, at any institution, that need a concise
“dry” laboratory course on human brain anatomy.
It will be of particular help to institutions that do not have the
laboratory space or financial resources to obtain increasingly scarce
human material for study. The
effectiveness of the DVD's as a learning aid will be assessed two ways: 1)
Will the students find these DVD's a useful, accurate, convenient adjunct
to their neuroscience laboratory studies.
2) Will the scores on the laboratory portion of the Medical
Neuroscience course improve when compared to scores obtained prior to the
production of these DVD’s.
This project was supported by the UAMS Caduceus Club and
Departmental Educational Research funds.
home
