Exploring 3D Anatomy Plus

We will guide you through a series of simple, practical and very effective learning exercises using everyday household objects, as well as the occasional use of your own anatomy.

Iain and Leonard’s video demonstrations will guide you through the practical exercises. You will be able to reflect upon and even share your experiences with others throughout the course if you wish.

As well as the preliminary exercises, the following three exercises are exclusive to Exploring 3D Anatomy Plus;

Haptic Surface Painting Exercise

This exercise involves the palpation of the living anatomy of the upper limb and the immediate marking of the skin with food colouring, in order to understand it in three dimensions. After this exercise you will be able to apply this technique to any part of the living anatomy.

ORDER Exercise

This exercise involves a cyclical step-by-step learning process called Observe-Reflect-Draw-Edit-Repeat.

This process supports observation of and reflection about three dimensional anatomical structures and underpins all of the exercises found in the Exploring 3D Anatomy MOOC.

Surgical Instrument Exercise

This exercise aims to improve your understanding of where your surgical instrument is located within the three dimensional space of the body. We demonstrate this exercise for application with a laparoscopic instrument, but you can use extend this technique to any instrument.

How will this help my clinical practice?

There are strong links between critical observation, spatial abilities and anatomy learning within the educational literature.

To examine, diagnose and treat patients it is essential for clinicians and healthcare professionals to gain a comprehensive understanding of the structural and functional anatomy of the human body.

Our bodies exist in three dimensions. To effectively study human anatomy, it is therefore essential to develop an understanding of the three-dimensional spatial arrangement of the body’s anatomical regions, systems, and structures.

Who is the Course For

This course is primarily aimed at anyone who is studying anatomy. You will also benefit from this course if you are a healthcare professional, clinician, surgeon, medical educator, or if you work in medical imaging. While this course is primarily for those working in medical contexts, no previous knowledge or experience is required, and these exercises are transferable to any context where visualisation and 3D spatial awareness are valuable skills.

Course Agenda

Month-long course with video exercises for participants to follow in their own time. Asynchronous discussion with teaching staff at various touchpoints throughout the course to discuss and compare experiences.