Showing posts with label flash cards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flash cards. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Getting a Good Start in your Anatomy & Physiology Course



For those entering the health professions, the human anatomy and physiology course is the arguably the most important—and most difficult—step in their schooling.

To get a good, solid start in A&P, I've pulled together some advice to share with you—things you need to know as you start, so you won't get into trouble you can't get yourself out of.

Learn how to read and raid your textbook

  • You can't just sit down and read an A&P textbook. It's not meant to be read like a novel or magazine. There are steps you need to take to really comprehend the contents, and if you don't take those steps, then you'll be wasting your time.
  • You also need to learn how to raid your A&P textbook.  That means knowing how and where to find information in your book when you need it to solve a problem or clarify something from your class discussion or lab activity.
  • You need to actually use your book.  Many students just set it aside (it looks so big and scary, after all) and never use it to supplement and complement what's going on in other parts of the course.  They often exclaim, "why did I have to buy that thing, when I didn't even use it!"  Yet, by not using it on their own, they are making it much more difficult—and time-consuming—to succeed in their A&P course.  
  • To learn more about how to read and raid your textbook, check out Read and Raid Your Textbook.


Brush up on your study skills

  • Prior to their A&P course, I've found that many students have been successful (or not so successful) in their high-school and college courses by just "winging it." Or by simply taking a few notes in class and reviewing them before a test or exam.  That won't cut it in A&P—no matter how brilliant you are.
  • You need to employ a set of study strategies to be successful.  I've listed just a few of them here, so you have an idea of what I'm saying.  Click on any of the links to find out more.
    • You'll be learning a new language, the language of science and medicine, so learn some basic principles of how that language works.
    • Use flash cards to help you learn new terms right away.  This is a first step before you can master the deep meaning of science concepts.
    • Use concept maps to sketch out the new sets of facts, theories, and principles that you are learning.  By drawing it out, you learn what aspects you've already mastered—and you reveal your weak spots and get them corrected.
    • Use concept lists to help you see connections between concepts you've learned and build a framework for seeing the "big picture" of human structure and function.
    • Manage your time by scheduling several short study sessions every single day. Cramming at the end does not work—and certainly won't prepare you for your later courses, nor your career, both of which rely on a deep understanding of A&P.
    • Study in a group.  Regularly.  Research shows that this is one of the most efficient (time-saving) and effective ways to study pretty much any subject.
    • Take good notes.  If your course involves lectures or online presentations, then take notes.  In lab, take notes.  Reading or raiding your textbook?  Take notes.  Take notes. Take notes.
    • Practice. Practice. Practice.
  • Spend a little time and effort learning effective study strategies. Here are some ways to get started:


Take A&P seriously

An awful lot of students look at the A&P course simply as a hoop that needs to be jumped through—a credential to get down on paper—before getting a degree or certificate needed to start a career.  A more realistic view sees the A&P course as a "first year on the job" experience.  Where you learn most of what you'll need to survive the first day, the next day, and the last day working in your health career.

So, how does one get serious about A&P?  Here are a few tips, with links to more information.
  • Develop habits of professional ethics by acting with academic integrity.
  • Realize that you've really got to learn it all, and learn it correctly.  And yes, spelling is important.
  • Exhibit professional responsibility by working regularly, attending class activities, and  honoring deadlines
  • Get others in your life on board with your plan.  A&P—then your later courses and clinical experiences—are going to temporarily take you away from some of the other responsibilities in your life.  If your friends and family don't realize what you need from them, it'll cause a lot of problems.  So have that discussion now and clarify things.  Need help?  Check out Help Significant Others Help You.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Exercise (lightly) while you study

Some recent research has shown that if you exercise lightly while you study, you may learn a bit better than if you are sitting quietly.

Apparently, light exercise--for example, riding a stationary bike at a gentle pace--during the process of creating new memories helps you remember things better.  However, vigorous exercise seems to reduce recall in the short term and has no effect in the long term.

There's certainly more that scientists have to figure out about this phenomenon. But in the mean time, it may be worth trying these strategies:

  • Walk slowly on a treadmill while reviewing your flashcards.
  • Ride gently on an exercise bike while reading your textbook.
  • Listen to an audio summary of your textbook chapters or a recorded lecture while doing light gardening or household chores.
  • Quiz your study partners while taking a leisurely stroll through the park or across campus.  But NOT across the parking lot!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Study Blue

As stated recently, the best way to learn anything is . . .
Practice.
Practice.
Practice.

And one of the easiest and fastest ways to practice learning the basic facts and terminology of A&P is to use flash cards.

One great way of using flash cards is to use an online platform for making, studying, and sharing flash cards.

Study Blue is one of the more popular online flashcard tools.


Here's a brief video introducing the philosophy behind Study Blue




With Study Blue you can can create flash cards on your device based on your course needs, then use their automated system to review them.  You can also create custom study guides and quizzes based on those flash cards.

This brief video Tap. Snap. Speak, shows how simple it is to make a flash card with Study Blue.


Now imagine yourself in A&P lab with a skull.  Or a model of the torso.  Point to a structure, snap a photo and say, "mastoid process." and you've got a great flash card for studying!

Teachers can assemble sets of flashcards with Study Blue  then share them with students.  Of course, students can share with their classmates in study groups.  For example, in your study group you may assign each person a set of flashcards to make based on your course material.  By sharing each of these with the whole study group, everyone now has a whole library of flash cards based on the week's study topics.
Check out Study Blue at

For more advice on making and using flash cards effectively for A&P check out the collection of articles at




Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Practice. Practice. Practice.

Anatomy and physiology is something that you'll need the rest of your life!

That's right.  Not only will you need a strong foundation in the concepts of human structure and function for remainder of your academic program, you'll need that foundation for the rest of your career and beyond.  It's the basis for all clinical practice and research.

Some A&P students already have some skills in getting ideas into their short-term memories.  Enough to pass the test.  Then they relearn those ideas for the exam.  But often, much of it is gone months or years down the road.  How can one get it all into long-term memory?

The answer is easy!  

Practice.
Practice.
Practice.

A few months ago, I wrote about the Wallenda model of homeostasis, using the Wallenda family of high-wire fame as an analogy for how the internal environment of the body maintains its vital balance.  Decades ago, when I was a wild animal trainer in the circus, I asked Tino Wallenda the secret to his great talent as a high-wire artist.  He told me, "Practice. Practice. Practice."   That really resonated with me.  I already knew that constant practice is the key to animal training.  Later, when I began teaching [human] students, I realized that no learning "sticks" without a lot of practice.

It's a simple principle.  But how do you put it into play in your A&P studies?  Here are a few tips to get you started:

  • Read the book more than once.  Break each chapter into chunks (sections) and read just a bit every day.  When you get to the end of the chapter, start the cycle again.  You'll be surprised at how much more you see and learn on a second or third reading.  It begins to "sink in" after repeated reading.  Don't forget to go back and occasinally re-read chapters you haven't looked at in a while.

  • Do as much homework as you can.  If your instructor doesn't assign homework, then assign it to yourself.  Write out the answers to the review questions at the end of each chapter in your textbook.  Find a study guide (perhaps there is one that supplements your textbook--ask your bookstore or search online).  

  • Make and use flash cards.  You can learn and practice terminology easily with flash cards.  But more advanced methods can be used to sort out relationships and understand the deeper concepts of A&P, as you can see in the video below.  You can also use published study cards to practice.

  • Take the test repeatedly.  Ask your teacher if they have old tests you can use for review.  If not, then make up your own!  This works even better if you have a study group--you can each prepare a test for the others to take.  Review your old tests.  If you don't have them in hand, try to remember the questions that were on them.

  • Do your practice every day.  Break your reading and other practice activities into chunks of about a half hour.  Then do several half-hour practices throughout the day.  Every day.  Holidays, weekends, and your birthday. Really. If you skip a day, you'll feel it.  So try not to skip.

Friday, August 31, 2012

Anatomical directions

When starting out in A&P, it's important to get a good grasp of how we talk about directions in the human body.  That's so that we can get down to business and really start describing human structures.  Describing them in a way that is accurate enough to be really clear on where those structures are in the body.

The problem is that most of us feel overwhelmed when a long list of rather foreign terms and concepts seem to suddently fall on top of us and make it hard to breathe!

A good approach is to stay calm and look for ways to connect these ideas to simple concepts that are already familiar to us. Following are some examples to get a good start.

Think of the directions of the body as you would ordinary directions like UP, DOWN, FORWARD, BACKWARD, etc.:

  • Superior UP
  • Inferior DOWN


  • Anterior FORWARD
  • Posterior BACKWARD


  • Lateral TOWARD THE SIDE
  • Medial TOWARD THE MIDDLE


  • Proximal NEAR THE BEGINNING
  • Distal AWAY FROM THE BEGINNING

Notice that the directions above are grouped into opposite pairs.  This is a good way to think of them . . . as pairs of opposites.

Now try the same with these directions:

  • (Anatomical) Left
  • (Anatomical) Right

  • Dorsal
  • Ventral

  • Cortical
  • Medullary

Now look at the diagrams showing anatomical directions in your A&P textbook and lab manual.  If you are using one of my textbooks or manuals , you can find a handy diagram along with a list of direction terms just inside the front or back cover.  My books and manuals also use a an anatomical compass rosette in every illustration, pointing you in the right direction just like the compass rosette found on any ordinary map.

Then try to find similar diagrams by doing an internet image search for "anatomical directions." The more diagrams you look at, the more it will become clear how the directions are used.


Next, try searching for some YouTube videos that explain the anatomical directions of the body.  Here’s a really good one:  


But this is just the beginning.  To truly understand them . . . and to be able to recall them quickly and easily as you must during your A&P course . . . you need to PRACTICE using them.  How you ask?  Aha! I have some strategies that are both fun and effective:

  • Start using them in every conversation.  Explain to your friends or family that the remote is superior to to the television screen but you are about to move it to a position inferior to the screen.  Explain that your pocket is on the lateral side of your jeans.   "Hey look, my shoelaces are dorsal!"  Yes, it's goofy.  But that's part of what makes it effective.  And your friends and family will love helping you study.  Really. The important thing is to do it frequently and throughout  each day . . . until you have reached total mastery.
  • Label your body.  Yep, you read that correctly.  Remember when you were a little kid and you labeled one shoe "left" and one shoe "right" so you could learn your left from your right?  What?! You didn't do that?   Well, if you had then you'd have learned that lesson far more quickly.  Well, here's your chance!  Pin "proximal" and "distal" labels on your sleeve.  Pin a "superior" label on your hat.  Then add an "anterior" label to the front of your hat and a "posterior" label on the back.  Yes, another goofy strategy.  But it's one that works, while also letting others join in the silliness.
    • An extra advantage of this strategy is that when folks see the labels and ask about them, you will be reminded to practice them.  "Oh yeah, I forgot about those labels.  Here, let me explain them to you."  Both the reminder and your explanation of each one will continue to give you the practice you need to master your anatomical directions.
  • Use flash cards to practice anatomical directions.  If you're not already familiar with the many ways to use flash cards to quickly and thoroughly learn anatomical concepts and terminology, check out my many posts describing this method

 In an upcoming post, I'll follow up with some strategies for learning the planes of the body.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

10 tips for studying the skeleton

One of the first major challenges in learning A&P is learning all the bones and bone features of the human skeleton.  Many students have not had much experience in memorizing physical structures to be identified by sight.

This video from my friend Paul Krieger is a good place to start.  It summarizes some of the basic shortcuts and tips that will help you learn the human skeleton . . . tips that will help you learn any anatomical structures of the human body.




Here are some additional links related to Professor Krieger's "10 tips"

Here's another resource from Professor Krieger that my own students find to be very helpful in learning the human skeleton as well as other concepts of A&P

A Visual Analogy Guide to
Human Anatomy & Physiology

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Say it 18 times

Want to learn your A&P terminology quickly and easily?  In a recent post, I told you that one way to do that is to work on six new words every day.  My friend Jane, the foreign language professor, gave me another tip to help learn new terminology: say each new term out loud at least 18 times.

Apparently, there's evidence suggesting that to "own" a new word, you have to say it out loud at least 18 times.  The vocalization, along with the repetition, apparently help to reinforce memories in the various language areas in your brain.  Which means that you can recall and use the terms easily.

I know that seems silly . . . even childish.  But think about it.  Silly as it may seem, isn't it worth reducing your study time and improving your knowledge quickly?


Want to know more?


Saturday, January 21, 2012

Six a day

As you begin a new anatomy and physiology course, you will likely feel a bit overwhelmed with the flood of new terminology.  Or a lot overwhelmed with all the new terms.

However, it need not be as big a struggle as you might first think.  There are some tricks and shortcuts . . . and I'm here to let you in on a few of those.

Today's tip comes from my friend Jane, who is a very talented professor of foreign language.  She told me that research as shown that most people can easily learn five to seven new words a day.  That is, if you work at it, you can add about six new words to your vocabulary each day without too much trouble.

That doesn't seem like a lot, but if you spend a few minutes a day you can easily pick up about 45 new terms a week.  That's over 700 new terms in a semester!

But of course, the trick is to put a little bit of effort into every single day.  Simply make yourself six or seven new flash cards, each with a new term, every day.  Review them for  just a few minutes, but do that several times throughout the day.

Don't forget to spend a few minutes reviewing your cards from the days before . . . you don't want to forget those new terms.

If you make this a habit, then you'll find that those few minutes a day can really make a huge difference in your mastery of the terminology of A&P.

Here are some more tips to help you get started learning the terminology of A&P:



There's more! 

Click here to browse my many tips for mastering the terminology of A&P.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Study Droid

Looking for a way to tame the thousands of terms you are flooded with in your A&P course?

Looking for a shortcut to memorizing  structures in your A&P lab?

How about an easy way to practice identifying histology specimens, anatomical structures, and important concepts?

Maybe you've already found out what bazillions of A&P students before you have discovered . . . flash cards!

One of many web-based tools that you can use is Study Droid.

If you want to see one student's take on Study Droid, then check out this video.


If you want a more focused tutorial on how to use Study Droid, then check out this video.


Already using Study Droid to study for A&P, then let's hear about your experience!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Painless memorization with Quizlet

Understanding anatomy and physiology often begins with building a foundation of basic terminology and identification of structures by name and location.  Yikes, that means memorization.  

A lot of folks dread memorization tasks because they simply don't know how to do it in a quick, pain-free manner. Once you know the tricks of memorization, it's not that bad.

The essential trick is to practice, practice, practice. 

That means every day, several times a day, if possible.

However, this will only work if you spend just a few minutes at a time practicing.  If you try to get in all in one long session, it won't work . . . or at least least is won't work very well.  In fact, the "long session approach" can sometimes burn you out so badly, it'll be hard to make yourself study the same topic again.

One of the easiest ways to practice painlessly is to make and use flashcards.  I have a previous blog post and a study tip web page and even a YouTube video devoted to methods of using flashcards to study A&P effectively.

My friend Monica Hall-Woods (another A&P professor) reminded me recently of a website called Quizlet.com where you can easily make a set of flashcards online (for FREE) and use it to study and to quiz yourself.  In fact, Quizlet.com gives you some alternative methods to quiz yourself, including some fun, game-like activities.

The more practice sessions you do on Quizlet.com, the more you'll almost effortlessly pick up the basic facts that you are trying to learn.  Quizlet.com helps you keep track of what you've studied and how you are doing.

You can also upload photos from Flikr.com . . . which means that you can take photos of your lab specimens with your smartphone, then upload the images into a set of flashcards!

Another great feature of Quizlet.com is that you can form study groups.  This allows one or more users to post and share sets of flashcards related to a particular topic.

Quizlet.com also lets you use flashcard stacks that others have created.  (Warning: be careful those you use are accurate before using them to study.)  Here's a stack of cards that I created simply by cutting and pasting a list I already had into the Quizlet.com editor:


Try it!  Use different options for quizzing yourself and playing games. I think you'll have fun with it. Which is the point . . . the less pain, the more gain.  At least in this case.

Let me know what you think!  And use the comment feature (below this blog article) to post your favorite Quizlet.com sets you've made or found . . . so other A&P students can benefit.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Trouble with tissues?

I don't think I've ever met a person who could identify tissues of the body on sight on their first day of trying. And yet many A&P students get frustrated just because they can't "get it" after only one day of trying. Identifying tissue types by sight is difficult for everyone, at first—for  several reasons.

First, each example is unique. No two examples look exactly alike, just like no two fingerprints look exactly alike.So you have to learn to look for patterns. And you can't do that until you've looked at a lot of examples. And that takes time—and a lot of practice.

Second, not all examples are stained in exactly the same way. Even when the same general type of staining is used, a lot depends on the quality of the sample, the quality of the stain used, and how well the preparer did their job. So again, you have to look for patterns. For example, stratified squamous epithelium can be found in wildly different colors, depending upon which type of staining technique is used. But no matter what the color, the pattern of flattened cells near the free edge, progressing to cuboidal and perhaps even column-shaped cells further away from the free edge, will still be present.

Third, when you look for patterns you have to remember what part of the pattern is important. You also have to remember that many patterns are very similar, so you have to remember how to tell them apart. For example, dense fibrous connective tissue can look a lot like fibrocartilage at first glance. You have to learn to look for the little white halos around the cells in fibrocartilage that tell you that the cells are within lacunae (spaces).

Oh, did I mention that practice, practice, practice is important?

Tissue identification really isn't as hard as it first seems. It really is mainly just a matter of putting the time into practicing.

Here are some tips for getting the most practice time in during the short time you have studied tissues:
  • Spend as much time in the lab as possible. If there are open lab times available, by all means take advantage of it.

  • If there is a learning center available with tissue specimens spend as much time as you can with them.

  • Use the examples published in your textbook and lab manual, or any other resource (such as a Brief Atlas of the Body),to practice identifying tissues. Cover up the labels and see if you can identify them. Make a photocopy of the images, cutaway or cover-up the labels, and test yourself.

  • Ask your instructor for other sources of practice images. Sometimes, someone will have taken photographs of the specimens used in your class. This is a good resource for practicing.

  • There are a lot of online resources for practicing tissue identification. Here are a few of my favorites – you can find many more by searching the web using key terms such as "tissues," "histology," and similar terms.

    • LUMEN
      [Loyola University's famous histology site; includes lessons on histology]

    • Blue Histology
      [Histology site at School of Anatomy and Human Biology, University of Western Australia]

    • Dr. Stephen Larsen's Channel (YouTube)
      [Dr. Larsen walks you through a variety of specimens as they are seen under the microscope.]

    • The A&P Professor Free Image Library
      [My site for A&P teachers includes links to free images of tissues that you can use to practice histology.]

  • Use flash cards (study cards) with photocopies of tissue specimens or printouts of digital images. See my recent blog article for a video on how to use flash cards in this manner.  Mosby's Anatomy & Physiology Study and Review Cards includes some histology cards along with all other topics in A&P.

  • Try to study a little bit several times each day, rather than a few long sessions several days apart. Constant practice is what works best.
The introduction to my Field Guide to the Body at the Lion Den website compares studying tissues to what birders do when they identify wildlife in the field. Take a look at that brief analogy, including examples of how to apply it to histology, for helpful tips on making this topic easier. If you're using any of my lab manuals in your A&P course, you can apply this technique directly by looking at the "Landmark Characteristics" boxes scattered throughout the tissue exercises.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Using flash cards

Flash cards are just for kids, right?  Wrong.

Flash cards, also known as study cards, are one of the most useful strategies you can use in studying human anatomy & physiology.

Here's a brief video that offers some practical tips for using study cards to reduce your study time and get a solid foundation in learning any topic.  This video also includes some surprising advanced techniques that show how to use flash cards to also learn higher-level thinking in any topic of A&P . . . or any other subject.

The video includes
  • A clear explanation of the Leitner system, plus my own "easy to use" adaptation of the Leitner system
  • Using color codes and symbols
  • How to use cards to learn processes and ordered structures
  • How to use cards to build concept maps (mind maps).

You can find many other tips on using flash cards at the newly updated page New Terms at http://lionden.com/new_terms.htm and in previous articles in The A&P Student blog.

Looking for packaged study cards that you can use for your A&P course? 
Try Mosby's Anatomy & Physiology Study and Review Cards

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

100 Best Web Tools for Science Students


I recently became aware of a new website that includes a handy list of the 100 Best Web Tools for Science Students. It includes virtual laboratories and experiments, explorations and web quests, basic foundations and principles, research and collaboration sites, modeling and mapping tools, plus links to search engines and databases.

Although the list includes resources covering a variety of science topics, several could be very useful to A&P students. Just a few examples:
1. Virtual Labs at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute A free tool that enables students to take on the role of scientist, technician, doctor, and immunologist. They participate in labs on topics related to cardiology, immunology, and bacterial identification.

57. Note Mesh A web 2.0 app that allows college students in the same science classes to share notes online using a wiki set-up.

73. Flashcard Exchange Print flashcards, create flashcards and study science topics online with this tool, the world’s largest flashcard library.

86. Virtual Cell A simulation of the look and feel of moving through an actual cell or cellular component. Students are encouraged to play the role of a biologist and examine cellular organelles, conduct experiments and form conclusions.
But be careful! There are a lot fun links, like virtual field trips to the plains of Africa, that might distract you from studying A&P. Well, OK, it's a good thing to have a little fun, too.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Study Cards


You may be interested in a new study tool that has just become available to anatomy and physiology students . . . Mosby's Anatomy & Physiology Study and Review Cards.

This boxed set of full-color study cards was assembled by my good friend Dan Matusiak, who is an excellent teacher of A&P. Using some the of amazing new art recently commissioned by Mosby (Elsevier Publishing), Dan has created a whole toolbox of helpful study cards to help you learn your A&P . . . then help you to quickly review it later.

There are 329 cards divided into 20 sections with handy color-coded sections to help you locate topics easily. Their 4 inch by 5.5 inch size means that they'll also stack easily with any 4 x 6 index cards that you may already be using to study A&P.

Additional features include:
  • This set introduces the user to the Leitner method, a time-tested strategy to improve retention and streamline study time through flash cards.

  • More than 200 of the cards feature a detailed A&P illustrations on the front, while the back identifies the anatomic structures or physiologic processes with numbered labels.

  • The set features hundreds of study questions with answers to reinforce core content.

  • Compact and convenient size makes it easy to study the cards wherever you choose.
Whether your breezing through A&P, or struggling to survive, this learning tool is worth checking out!

Sunday, August 30, 2009

How we learn new terms


Good news for adult students of A&P!

You were probably thinking that you are too old to be learning so many new terms in such a short period of time. Maybe the brain of a child is good at doing this, you might tell yourself, but I'm past the point where this is easy.

Scientists in Finland have been working on how the brain processes the learning of new terms in the left temporal and frontal lobes of the brain. And their results show that it is actually easier for adults with an established vocabulary to add lists of new terms (and their meanings). And learning the meanings (definitions) of the terms appears to be easier than learning the names themselves!

This news further confirms my suspicion that the hurdle is not so much the list of terms themselves as it is one's confidence in their ability to learn them. In other words, it's all about having a winning attitude. In fact, that's one of my key points in the brief Survival Guide For Anatomy And Physiology: Tips, Techniques And Shortcuts I've recommended to you before.

Want to know more about the recent findings?

Familiar And Newly Learned Words Are Processed By The Same Neural Networks In The Brain.
Academy of Finland (2009, August 30).
ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 30, 2009
[News release summarizing the study and it's importance.]
Want some tips on learning the terms needed for your A&P course?

Learning Terminology
tips and links from The A&P Student blog
New Terms and Learning Terminology
tips and links from the Lion Den website

Survival Guide For Anatomy And Physiology: Tips, Techniques And Shortcuts
my handy little manual with all kinds of learning strategies

Mosby's Anatomy & Physiology Study and Review Cards
a new collection of study cards for A&P from my friend Dan Matusiak

Terminology for A&P and International Terminology for Anatomy & Physiology
my YouTube videos helping you get starting with learning terms in A&P

Friday, April 24, 2009

Study Stack


In recent posts I mentioned flashcard rescources such as Flashcard Exchange and also recommended that you check the data in the resources before using them to study.

Here's another resource you might find useful:


This site allows you to choose a topic, then study the data in any of several formats:
  • notes
  • flashcards
  • study stack (try this one out . . . it's cool)
  • study table
  • matching
  • Hangman
  • crossword
  • wordsearch
  • unscramble
  • type in
  • bug match (this one is crazy, but fun)
You can also choose to
  • export the data
  • print the data
  • edit the data
  • recommend other options
For example, see the stack on the Endocrine System. Click on each of the formats to see what you get!

To find topics related to A&P, try these:

  • Medical/Nursing
  • Medical/Anatomy
  • Medical/Physiology

There are many different levels represented here, going all the way up through med-school level. So you'll have to pick the data that suits your needs.

How about this . . . why don't you make some stacks fo your own and put them up and then request a new category for undergrad A&P?

Monday, February 9, 2009

Anki Learning System


In a recent post, I talked about a shortcut in how to learn the overwhelming terminology of A&P--flashcards.

This is another great tool for learning the terminology of A&P . . .

My friend Jane Zeiser told me about this tool. Jane is a foreign language professor and her students use it to learn their vocabulary words.

It's called Anki and it's a FREE program that creates a database that is something like a virtual deck of flash cards. Students can load in (and share) their A&P terms and learn them by practicing with them.

The program is SMART because it uses a proven algorithm to repeat items that are missed in a pattern that promotes efficient learning. As the student learns, the program alters the pattern to focus on the terms that need more practice . . . without forgetting to review the terms already learned.

Anki can be downloaded and used on a PC or Mac, it can be used on a mobile device (such as an iPod, iPhone, or SmartPhone), or on the web.

Of course, memorizing the meaning of terms is just the first step in thoroughly learning A&P . . . but a very important first step. Success with the first step leads to success during the rest of the journey, eh?

Please "comment" on this article if you've already had experience with Anki . . . we'd love to hear some first-person reports!

Find Anki at http://ichi2.net/anki/

Watch this screencast to learn about Anki . . . . http://ichi2.net/anki/screencast1.html

Monday, February 2, 2009

Learning terminology

Take learning new terms in your A&P course as seriously as you would learning vocabulary words in a foreign language course.

It sounds silly, but you learn as many new words in an A&P course as you do a beginning foreign language course. Really --there's been research to prove it!

The easiest way to learn new terms is to use the flash card method.

Yes . . . it reminds us all of elementary school, I know. But I also know that it works in college --I still use it myself. In fact, it was a college professor at St. Louis University (Dr. Steve Dina, my ecology professor) who taught me how valuable a tool this can be in a college science course when I went to him asking for help with the overwhelming terminology of his course.

An easy and effective way to use flashcards to learn A&P terms is demonstrated at my study tip on new terms at the Lion Den.

There's also helpful information in my book Survival Guide For Anatomy And Physiology: Tips, Techniques And Shortcuts

But remember, learning the language is just the first step!

To truly understand the structure and function of the body, you have to know what the concepts really mean and how they relate to one another. And most importantly, you have to be able to apply what you've learned.