Body Painting

Introduce body painting into your A&P class?!

I don't know . . . I'm not so sure this would be a big hit in my rather conservative community if word got out that our students were doing body painting in class!

But an article in the current issue of Anatomical Sciences Education (ASE) titled Body painting as a tool in clinical anatomy teaching has me thinking that maybe it's a good idea. The author, Paul G. McMenamin used body painting in his anatomy class to help his students learn about muscles, nerves, dermatomes, joints, bone markings, and surface projections of various internal organs by using this method of instruction.

McMenamin allowed students to work in single- or mixed-gender groups and gave them the option of working behind a screen. He found that gender and cultural issues never seemed to be an issue with his students.

He found that these exercises were very effective, and were perceived by students as being effective, in learning anatomical concepts. McMenamin cited the multimodal and interactive aspect of this method as probable reasons for the demonstrated success of body painting as a learning tool.

Click this link Body painting as a tool in clinical anatomy teaching to access the abstract of this article FREE of charge. (See note below for access to full article.)

Have any of you tried a similar method? Share your experiences with the rest of us by clicking the Comments link at the end of this article. (Or send it to me and I'll post it here or on The A&P Professor website if appropriate.)

[NOTE: Wiley InterScience, publisher of ASE, offers the journal FREE to institutions for a limited time during the journal's inaugural year. Click here for information to pass on to your college library to get the journal FREE!]