Reigniting engagement: A multidisciplinary, authentic case-based approach to anatomy and physiology education for...

Anatomy and physiology are foundational to health science education, yet student engagement in these modules often declines during later years of study. This discursive article aims to describe a teaching intervention which increased student engagement and provide educator reflection of implementation and improvement over time. The teaching intervention, implemented as a semester-long, multidisciplinary case-based portfolio, designed to re-engage second-year students with anatomy and physiology content. Centered on a simulated patient case, the intervention scaffolded a series of tasks-ranging from reflective journaling to image interpretation and evidence-based decision-making-that progressively increased in complexity. The design aimed to foster cognitive integration, critical thinking, and professional identity development by situating anatomy and physiology knowledge within authentic clinical reasoning scenarios. The intervention drew on constructivist, authentic, and situated learning theories and was iteratively refined over three academic years. Reflective teaching practice, peer assessment, and collaborative task structures supported metacognitive growth, while diverse modalities addressed variability in student learning preferences. Key outcomes included increased student engagement, stronger multidisciplinary connections, and enhanced evaluative judgment as perceived and reflected on by the educators. However, challenges related to academic integrity, group dynamics, and educator workload highlighted the need for improved scaffolding and institutional support. Future directions include collaboration with clinical specialists to enhance authenticity, and partnerships with academic literacy and library teams to strengthen support for applied reasoning tasks. This intervention offers a replicable model for integrating clinical relevance into undergraduate anatomy and physiology education, supporting deeper learning and professional readiness within foundational disciplines.