Application of a diaphanous animal model in a human osteogenesis lecture
Authors: Serna Mariajosé , Alturo Geraldine Andrea Cuellar , Lopez‐McCormick Juan Sebastian , Rueda‐Esteban Roberto Javier 
Published: June 2021

Education in today's modern Anatomy environment is a permanent and ever evolving challenge. Even with current integrative curricula, students find it difficult to understand certain dynamic aspects of functional anatomy and three‐dimensionality (3DM). This is even more challenging in Embryology given the high‐speed three‐dimensional changes happening simultaneously.

Multiple tools such as cadavers, simulations, plastic and animal models amongst others have been used in order to improve student's motivation and comprehension during Anatomy and Embryology courses. However human cadavers are increasingly unavailable, artificial models remain expensive and computer based simulation is not considered intuitive. Alternatively, non‐conventional preservation techniques have proven to be effective as educational tools, overcoming some of said problems. Our goal was to describe students' perceptions about their learning process when diaphanized animal specimens were used to explain the osteogenesis processes during an Embryology lesson.

15 cleared Wistar rats (CWR) between 0 and 21 days of development were selected. Diaphanization was carried out following our laboratory's protocol and CWR were shown at a regular osteogenesis class. Specimens were used under our Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) endorsement 17‐021, ensuring adequate procedures according to current legislation. Likewise, all rats were received after euthanasia, following the 3Rs principle: replacement, reduction and refinement of the use of animals in research.

Implementing new educational tools requires meticulous analysis to understand the learning process influencing factors, hence, qualitative research provides an ideal approach to evaluate students' perception in a natural scenario, understanding the dynamics of the context. Therefore, lecture observation and interviews were used as information gathering tools. 90 second year medical students of both sexes attended. Our classroom is equipped with 11 SmartTv's and a microphone. Observation and 7 Interviews were pursued by a last year medical student and an external party.

Through observation it was notorious that students lose attention during the theoretical class. When CWR were shown there was a substantial increase in student's interest. Observers expressed that “some people looked confused but most of them seemed just starting to understand the topic”. The above is consistent with the interviews, in which students stated that “if the class had ended just before the specimens were shown, the topic would have been unclear and fuzzy”, they also expressed that these visual tools were extremely valuable in the 3DM of bone development comprehension.

While the professor was using the CWR to explain, only students located far away from the professor declared that they were easily distracted. This can be explained by their feeling of lack of communication between them and the professor.

CWR were considered an extremely helpful tool to understand the 3DM of bone growth, therefore the student's learning process perception was positively influenced. Specimens also provided information about the visual dominant learning style of medical students already described in the literature. External factors like classroom arrangement and the number of student can influence the outcome of the exercise.

This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.