Using play-doh to enhance the perceived learning of veterinary medicine

Abstract

Teaching anatomy to veterinary students is challenging, and using two-dimensional (2D) representations may limit the opportunity for learners to make the connections required to fully appreciate the complex structures involved and the relationships between them. This research considered the implementation of three-dimensional (3D) modeling using Play-Doh with learners to consider whether they were able to make effective representations that may then support further learning. The evidence from teacher observations and student feedback suggests that, despite some initial hesitation surrounding the use of what some might perceive as a toy in the higher education classroom, the learners believed that the approach allowed improvement in terms of their understanding, knowledge retention and recall. They reported that the approach enabled greater visualization of the structures they were representing. For teachers, the approach has the advantage that the material is cheap, readily available, easily manipulated, can be reused, and needs no sophisticated technology.