Implementing Interdisciplinary Activities in Human Anatomy and Physiology to Support Student Success

About This Grant

This project aims to serve the national interest by implementing a relatively new, and innovative, pedagogical approach, "Drawing as an Interdisciplinary Pedagogy," to support undergraduate student success, specifically in difficult, undergraduate Human Anatomy and Physiology courses and, more broadly, in STEM. It is generally accepted that there is a positive association between feelings of well-being and academic achievement for many students. While arts-based teaching approaches are known to support science content memorization and recall, less is known about the importance of the role of drawing in supporting other dimensions of student success in undergraduate science, such as understanding and explaining concepts. This Level 2 Engaged Science Learning project aims to investigate the relationship between the act of drawing and student achievement and engagement in science. The goal of this project is to bring science and art faculty together to design and implement process-focused, interdisciplinary drawing exercises. These drawings are not intended to be used for determining students' course grades, rather they may be useful for assessing when students have misconceptions about difficult anatomy and physiology concepts. In addition, the importance of the act of drawing in thinking about science concepts is to be investigated, helping to answer questions about how the act of drawing itself influences learning anatomy and physiology and how it might increase scientific competencies in students through the development of keen observations. Interviews, surveys, and analysis of drawings are intended to investigate student science learning and changes in areas of science well-being, such as science engagement, science self-efficacy, and sense of belonging in science. The project also plans to track changes in outcomes such as STEM persistence and to broadly share the project approach and findings across the state of Alaska and nationally through workshops and presentations. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.