Clay-Based Modeling in the Anatomist's Toolkit: A Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Anatomy Teaching
• Learning Methodologies

Background:

• Anatomical education faces challenges due to reduced teaching time and resource limitations.
• Clay-based modeling (CBM) offers an alternative approach to anatomy instruction.
• This review evaluates CBM's effectiveness against traditional methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and appraise literature on CBM for human gross anatomy education.
• To compare CBM's uses, advantages, and limitations with alternative teaching methods.
• To assess CBM's impact on student knowledge and experience.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search across Embase, MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science.
• Quality assessment of included studies using the Medical Education Research Quality Instrument (MERSQI).
• Inclusion of 12 high-quality studies (mean MERSQI score 11.50/18).

Main Results:

• CBM is applicable to all gross anatomical regions.
• 11 studies showed significant short-term knowledge improvement with CBM.
• Eight studies indicated high student ratings for CBM, despite some perceiving it as juvenile or difficult to implement.

Conclusions:

• Clay-based modeling is an effective method for improving short-term human gross anatomy knowledge.
• CBM should be considered a valuable tool for anatomy educators.
• Further research, including randomized controlled trials, is needed to investigate CBM's long-term effects.