Original Research Article
Year: 2018 | Month: October-December | Volume: 3 | Issue: 4 | Pages: 191-196
Dissection: A Facility for Students’ Better Learning and Understanding of Gross Anatomy Theory
Uchewa, Obinna Onwe1, Egwu, Ogugua Augustin1, Nwafor, Joseph Alo1, Egwu, Amaobi Jude1, Nwite, Kelechi Nnanna1, Nwajagu, Godwin Ikechukwu1
1Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo (FUNAI), Ebonyi State, Nigeria.
Corresponding Author: Uchewa, Obinna Onwe
ABSTRACT
Student’s performance in gross anatomy is appalling and most schools are considering scrapping dissection to make students happy. Dissection as a traditional method of learning anatomy is the only one that allows students to feel the structures as they learn. We aim to ascertain the method that enhances the students understanding of gross anatomy using questionnaires. The subjects and schools include 150 subjects from Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo (FUNAI) Ebonyi State, 200 were from Ebonyi State University (EBSU) Abakaliki and 250 subjects from Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU) Uli, Anambra State, all in South Eastern part of Nigeria amounting to 600 students. The questionnaires contained close ended questions used to determine which method(s) better enhances their understanding. Most of the students (386.00±3.5) strongly agreed that the best method of teaching and learning gross anatomy is through dissection compared to the number (31.00±2.08) that strongly disagreed. Most of them strongly disagreed (340.67±66.26) to scrapping dissection as a teaching method and 100.00±5.77 disagreed to the suggestion while only 14.00±8.19 strongly agreed and 49.33±25.83 were undecided. Majority opined that the best assessment method is to combine all the other methods with dissection. Some students (290.00±45.09) strongly disagreed that gross anatomy should not be thought without dissection proving it as major vehicle to understanding the course. We conclude that dissection as a traditional means of teaching gross anatomy still remains the best approach for teaching students to learn and retain gross Anatomy.
Keywords: Dissection, Facility, Learning, Students, Teaching.