Page 113 - Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century

Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century | Showcasing UJ Teaching and Learning 2021
additional advantages including (1) supplementing human tissue specimens that are increasingly scarce; (2) assisting students with remote learning and revising before and after practical sessions; and (3) providing students with a blank canvas for application of creative and active learning opportunities (Adams et al. 2015; Mogali et al. 2017; Smith et al. 2017). The 3D-printed specimen will provide students with an interactive tool that they can build and disassemble, paint, label and photograph to create flash cards or study notes, which will improve student understanding of the practical content. This ability for students to interact with the specimens in a creative and active way will provide students with a unique and powerful study tool that has never been available to them, as ethical implications of altering human remains would not permit such actions. Combining 3D-printed specimens with limited laboratory time and online digital resources will provide a critical tool to empower student learning.
Aim
The aim of this intervention is to improve the student practical experience, not only during Covid-19 remote teaching but long after the return to campus, by printing 3D models that have been digitised from scanned human tissue.
Materials and methods
Before starting the unit dedicated to the skeletal system, students receive a set of 3D-printed models of the
bones they will need to be familiar with. The models are created from scans of bones uploaded by the University
of Michigan under the Creative Commons License (CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs) and printed with
the Flashforge Creator 3 3D Printer using PLA filament. The 3D-printing modality will have some limitations regarding the properties of the human tissue. 3D-printed models will not representatively mimic the surface texture or density of human bones. However, the surface features and general shapes of the bones will be sufficient for the level of teaching planned from these models.
This new method of practical preparation is still evolving. As part of the introduction of this new teaching practice, the following are some formative active learning practices that are
planned for 2022 along
1. 2.
with the expected benefits foreseen:
Students will be encouraged to use their 3D models while watching their theoretical instructional videos.
This will allow students to become spatially aware of where anatomical markings are located on bones, how bones are orientated within the body and how bones interact with one another at joints. Figure 1 shows a 3D model of the bones that make
up the knee joint. Students can use this printed model to familiarise themselves with how the bones interact with one another and identify the markings where ligaments and muscles will attach to the bones.
Students will be encouraged to use coloured markers or paints to highlight the numerous markings associated with each bone. By colouring the entire area that represents a marking, students gain a better understanding of the marking, its placement on
the bone and its relationship to surrounding markings. This additional interaction with the 3D structure will also focus students’ attention more deeply, allowing them to be more familiar with the placement, textures and shapes of these markings.
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