Engaging Minds: A Brain Cutting Experience for Undergraduate and Pre-Medical Students

Abstract

Brain anatomy is notoriously difficult to teach and visualize to first-time learners. To make neuroanatomy more digestible, our group designed an educational brain-cutting experience that used gross dissection of a cadaver brain alongside digital dissection through the Anatomage Table technology to elucidate more difficult structures in three dimensions. A slide presentation was also prepared to help guide the learners through the dissection and to teach structure, function, and pathology. Two sessions with undergraduate learners were performed, with the first having four learners and the second having eight. Pacing and improper cutting technique were the main obstacles encountered in the first session; however, this was remedied by proper communication, teaching, and changing the format of the visual presentation. We feel that Anatomage helped the learners better visualize each structure in three dimensions, which aided in understanding the content. Early exposure to anatomy and pathology can inspire students to pursue careers in medicine, so we hope that this experience inspires others to develop their own neuroanatomy program.