3D VISUALISATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF SPATIAL ANATOMICAL KNOWLEDGE

Abstract

Effective acquisition of human anatomy knowledge invariably involves 3D visualisation of structure and function, an ability which can vary significantly among medical undergraduates. Visualisation tools such as 3D printed physical models (PM) and augmented reality virtual model (VM) are often used as Cognitive Prosthetics to enhance spatial understanding of students with lower visualisation ability(VA). However, literatures have called for a critical assessment of the current hype surrounding these tools, as studies did not provide insights on how learning was actually achieved. The research question is “how does visualisation tools influence the learning of spatial anatomical understanding among students with higher and lower VA?”. The findings showed that the physicality of anatomy models enhanced the learning of lower VA students in the higher level of spatial anatomical understanding. Without physicality, the gap between higher VA and lower VA students may increase as lower VA students were unable to benefit from VM.