Draw to Remember: Using Art to Teach Anatomy, Physiology, and Disease
Thomas Davis, PhD, has found a creative way to improve student participation and reinforce the learning of complicated topics: drawing.
By Kara Baskin · February 28, 2020
Thomas Davis, PhD
When he was in graduate school studying environmental physiology, self-proclaimed “left-brainer” Tom Davis, PhD, stoked his creative side with a drawing class.
“It was an art class with medical illustrations-a ‘drawing on the right side of the brain’ class-and I loved the creativity,” he recalls. “I still can’t believe I took it, but I’ve always learned best by visualizing and drawing what I’ve seen.”
Davis has never forgotten how well art helped him learn, so for the past 15 years, the biology professor at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, has used drawing as a key component of his courses. He has found it effective at teaching major physiological organ processes, anatomical structures, and the physiological impact of common diseases.
In addition to helping students have a visual way to lock in information, adding art has benefits related to engagement and a healthy classroom environment, too. He has found that it helps keep students from zoning out during class, and it sparks conversation and discussion by providing something visual to talk about. “Good talking in class results in good learning,” he adds.
Below, Davis sketches out the bones of his approach for educators interested in giving it a try.
Challenge
Students in lecture-laden courses can zone out-fast
Davis realized early on that passive learning does not work. “I sat through several classes at other colleges, and it was all passive-everyone sat there and took notes. It wasn’t even 15 minutes before people just started zoning out,” he says. “I was putting myself in the students’ place, being a student again, and it seemed there had to be a better way. I wanted to get away from passive learning.”
Innovation
Treat students to a modified version of Pictionary
To employ art-making in the classroom, Davis divides students into small groups and has each group elect a spokesperson. Davis poses a question, the group talks about possible answers and might go to the board to draw their best answer to the question, and then the spokesperson gives the group’s answer in the form of describing the group’s drawing.
See resources shared by Thomas Davis, PhD >>
Context
“Even though seeing a well-labeled diagram in a text or online helps a student visualize the concept or topic at hand, actually redrawing the same diagram with one’s own personal labels and notes makes it sink in even better. The drawing becomes one’s own and it’s like learning it a second time, only better.”
- Thomas Davis, PhD
Course: BIO-420 Vertebrate Physiology
Course description: A course in the basic physiological processes of humans. The function and coordination of cells, major organ systems of humans and relationships of these systems with common human diseases.
Lesson: Davis’s tips for teaching science with art
Instead of lecturing while students take notes, Davis transforms his classroom into an art studio-to an extent. First, Davis divides students into groups of (up to) six and instructs each group to choose a spokesperson. Each group is then given an anatomical structure or physiological process that pertains to the lecture, and the whole group works together to collectively draw that on the board. When their drawing is complete, the spokesperson turns into the “professor,” explaining the drawing and the thinking behind it.
Here are the key steps Davis takes throughout the semester to support this method.
Do not pressure students to participate
No matter how much he likes art, Davis knows this is not actually an art class. “There are always a few people who say, ‘I can’t draw!’” he says. So Davis does not force the issue. Even those who are not drawing are invested in what their group peers are doing, he says. And, in time, most of them realize they are actually helping each other draw-not doing it solo. And there is talking and communication going on as the group plans and then actually draws the picture.
Compare multiple drawings to spark discussion
Davis will sometimes call two or three groups to the board to draw the same structure or process. Then the class will discuss overall similarities and differences. This removes the pressure of a more personal individual critique. It also sparks discussion and helps students see where they may have gaps in understanding.
Revise the artwork to teach something new
Sometimes Davis has students take their initial drawing and modify it. (This is one of the advantages of doing this lesson on the board, where they can easily erase and redraw parts.) For example, when students learned about respiratory diseases, they first drew the bronchi, bronchioles, and alveoli in a simplified picture of lung anatomy. Then Davis asked them to modify the drawings to show the impact of diseases such as asthma and emphysema. For example, in pneumonia, the alveoli are filled with fluid, so students modified their sketches to show this. “When five or six respiratory disease drawings are lined up next to each other in front of everyone, the specific effects of each disease become quite visual and discernible,” Davis says, and he has included one of his own as an example:
Focus on accuracy, not artistry
Not everyone is a Picasso, and Davis is fine with that: He does not grade at all on artistic merit. Since the point is to help students get a clear picture of the anatomical concept, Davis sometimes needs to make some revisions of his own. “I tell them not to be insulted if I redraw your group diagram a little bit,” he says.
Encourage drawing in note-taking
“Repetition, visualizing things, and labeling things can help students learn,” Davis says. So he asks students to draw physiological processes in their notebooks during class, which they can later use when they are studying for exams. These drawings are not graded but are strictly learning and study tools.
Incorporate drawing into exams
Davis also weaves drawing into his tests. “Some of the things that students draw in class will also appear on the exams,” Davis says. There, drawings are worth up to 20 points out of 100.
Overall, Davis says, students enjoy the drawing process, since it adds a fresh element to the traditional lecture format. “Drawing something transfers knowledge from your hand to your head,” he says.
Originally published at https://www.coursehero.com on February 28, 2020.
