25 - Stroke of Genius: Comparison of a 3-Dimensional Model to Traditional Resources in Stroke Education

Poster Board Number: 25
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Abstract Body : The past few decades have involved major changes in anatomy education including a decrease in lecture hours, increase in directed study and a shortage in classically trained anatomists. These changes have been amplified more recently given the drastic transitions introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic that will likely leave lasting effects on medical anatomy curricula. Anatomy educators are now left searching for effective teaching resources that can be used in the limited time and can be converted to virtual study sessions. 3-Dimensional (3D) models have gained popularity recently in the context of dissection lab but are rarely compared to lecture or reading which serve as major resources used in medical schools today. Previous studies have been controversial in whether a student’s visuospatial ability (Vz) plays a role in their capability to learn from 3D models. The present study compared the use of a 3-Dimensional model of the brain, brainstem, motor and somatosensory systems, cranial nerve nuclei, language centers and vasculature supplying the aforementioned structures to lectures including cadaveric and atlas images and atlas reading in teaching of clinical stroke syndromes to first year medical students at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. Student volunteers completed a Mental Rotations Test to determine Vz and the Index of Learning Style questionnaire to determine student’s preferred learning style (Visual vs Non-Visual students). Students were stratified into four interventional groups including: 3D Video Group, Cadaveric Video Group, Atlas Video Group and an Atlas Reading Group. Each interventional group had an equal distribution of Vz and learning style. All participants completed a pre-session survey and test, a learning session specific to their interventional group, post-session survey and test and a long-term survey and retention test. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, this study was completed once with in-person sessions and repeated the following year with all sessions converted into a virtual format. Results of the study revealed students in the Video Groups that completed in-person sessions improved from the pre-session test to the post-session test while students in the Atlas Reading Group did not. With virtual sessions, all four groups significantly improved from pre-session test to post-session test. Participants with lower Vz benefitted more from their 3D session than students with intermediate or high Vz, which was consistent in both in-person and virtual sessions. There was no consistent effect of learning style on student performance between the groups. Students in all four groups rated their sessions highly on surveys with no significant differences between the groups. Ultimately, results of this study suggest that students perform better when they have instructor guidance such as in the Video Groups than when they are reading with no instructor guidance and that students with a lower Vz may benefit more than those with higher Vz when using 3D resources. The present study is the first of its kind to test novel, interactive learning sessions with clinical integration to traditional resources with the added effects of characteristics of student learning.