Peer Mentoring Enhances Student Brainpower

Kathleen Nolan

This article is about an exercise that points out student deficiencies in studying and memorizing, and helps them to think about how they might overcome these difficulties. The students in my Anatomy and Physiology I laboratory course at St. Francis College are given a list of twenty-four anatomical structures that they will need to locate on the sheep brain for a practical exam. They are also required to learn the function of these structures. The list is handed out approximately one week before the practical--some of the terms are defined in class. The students are also told that this will be an oral exam, given individually, and that they are not allowed to leave the room until they get "100" on the exam.

Kathleen Nolan has been a member of ABLE for 18 years. She contributed an article on Research Link 2000 for the Fall Issue of Labstracts.

The first time that I gave the exam, I sequestered the examinee from the rest of the class. If the student got a term wrong, s/he had to go back to their dissection, study more, and then come back for further testing. I would randomly test the student on fifteen or so of the structures or terms. Usually by the third time or so, the anatomist would earn their "100".

The second and third times I tried what you might imagine to be a very popular exercise, the other students were allowed to look on. This had the surprising effect that some students became nervous, and would forget the terms. However, the advantage of this was that it created a sort of "cheering squad" among the students and a more spirited environment. The less-prepared students were also exposed to the "Whiz" students who got all the structure locations, pronunciations and functions correct the first time (or by the second time, at least). Students learned that old-fashioned repetition is useful for memorization. This served to create more dialogue among the students, and revelations of the tricks to good study habits. At one point there was a question as to what the function of the mammillary body was to which I replied, "Go into my office and do a search on the Internet." A few students did this, and one interesting site revealed a photo of mammillary bodies with petechial hemorrhages indicative of Wernicke's disease. Petechial (small, red-spotted) hemorrhages are due to a low platelet count. To view this and other interesting pathology slides, visit the following web site: http://www-medlib.med.utah.edu/WebPath/webpath.html and look under "Organ system pathology". This medical web site also contains normal histology slides and case-based laboratory exercises.

Since we did not know what Wernicke's disease was, we searched further on the web and located: http://www.ets.uidaho.edu/med532/Disease_index.htm. This site revealed that Wernicke's disease is a result of chronic alcohol abuse combined with a thiamine deficiency. Some symptoms are memory loss and disorientation. From this we deduced that the mammillary body might have an important role in memory.

As this practical was held during the last laboratory period, it added a real boost to the students' morale (and to some individuals' grades---I counted it as a quiz grade) as well as a camaraderie that seems to put the students on positive footing for the A & P II course.

The list of structures that I gave to the students is as follows: dura mater, pia mater, cerebrum, cerebellum, medulla oblongata, pons, corpus callosum, hypothalamus, thalamus, pineal gland, lateral ventricles, optic chiasma, mammillary body, arbor vitae, sulcus, gyrus, longitudinal fissure, transverse fissure, gray matter, white matter, corpora quadrigemina, olfactory bulbs, olfactory tracts, vermis. These, of course, were the structures that I could most easily locate; other examiners might prefer a more extensive list, depending on the level of the course.

References for the text and lab manual:

Saladin, K. and C. Porth. 2000. Anatomy and Physiology: the Unity of Form and Function. 2nd ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Tortora, G. and R. Tallitsch. 2000. Laboratory exercises in anatomy and physiology with cat dissections. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.