Some subscribers to Phys-L might be interested in a discussion-list
post "Anatomy Education" [Hake (2011)].
The abstract reads:
****************************************
ABSTRACT: Robin Hopkins in a POD post "Shift in the teaching of
science" wrote: "I'm interested in the shift that is required of
traditional anatomists as the medical school moves toward a
curriculum that requires anatomy to be taught/learned in ways that
are more aligned with the clinical application of anatomy than simply
'knowing' anatomy (usually for tests)."
If the tests are of the usual classroom type then they require only
the regurgitation of memorized material rather than higher-order
learning such as the understanding of scientific concepts. I suspect
that higher-order learning is required for the *effective* clinical
application of anatomy.
In my opinion, the major shift is the teaching of science is the
shift "From Teaching to Learning: A New Paradigm for Undergraduate
Education" [Barr & Tagg (1995)]. Unknown to most of academia,
education researchers have developed "Concept Inventories"
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_inventory> that can be used in
*formative* pre/post testing to gauge the impact of courses on
students' learning and understanding of scientific concepts.
At least in physics such testing demonstrates that "Traditional" (T)
passive-student lecture courses result in course-averaged normalized
learning gains <g> that are about two-standard deviations below those
of "Interactive Engagement" (IE) courses. I give 28 hot-linked
references to some of the relevant literature.
*******************************************
"['Educating Physicians'] is a very important book that comes at a
critical time in our nation's history. We will not have enduring
health care reform in this country unless we rethink our medical
education paradigms. This book is a call to arms for doing just
that."
George E. Thibault, president, Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation
REFERENCES [URL's shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on 19 June 2011.]
Cooke, M., D.M. Irby, & B.C. O'Brien. 2010. Forward by Lee S.
Shulman. "Educating Physicians: A Call for Reform of Medical School
and Residency." Jossey-Bass, publisher's information at
<http://bit.ly/d52HEP>. Amazon.com information at
<http://amzn.to/jhZJ0l>. Note the searchable "Look Inside" feature.
Hake, R.R. 2011. "Anatomy Education," online on the OPEN! AERA-L
archives at <http://bit.ly/m8e4v2>. Post of 19 Jun 2011
14:15:36-0700 to AERA-L and NetGold. The abstract and link to the
complete 22 kB post are being transmitted to various discussion lists
and are also on my blog "Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/jskdvE>
with a provision for comments.