Hi,
We’re almost ready to get started next week we begin the clay modeling, best of luck to everyone. If I can be of any help, feel free to contact me. Please record your experiences and observations so we can share them with you and learn from them.
Also, remind your students this week that if they would like to avoid getting clay on their clothes and hands they should bring in a cover-up and gloves for next week’s lab.
The original idea was to remove some of the muscles, see the list in Lab 11 of the Lab Instructor Outline, but not all of them so that they could apply the vessels without much interference but they would also learn that some vessesls (particularly veins) run superficially and other run deep to particular muscles. The wire blood vessel model (although wonderful) displays all the vessels with outregard to their positions in a limb or a torso.
Sorry it’s taken me awhile to get into the blog. The blog seemed to lock me out for a couple of weeks for some odd reason. I have personally had a great time with the clay manikins and so have my students. I just wish we had more time (towards the end) for me to be able to spend some quality time with them (the students and their models) so that they could review the muscles and fix any mistakes. Since there are several origins and insertions which are completely new (not encountered when studying bone landmarks) it does take a bit longer to illustrate what/where these landmarks are. But overall, I think it’s a great change – very hands on!
With regard to the arteries and veins which we will gear for next week, are we going to have the students strip our manikins clean of the muscles and then build the arteries and veins? I think this might be an more efficient us of time.
Yes, my lab went very well too. The students seem to love doing the modeling and when they looked at the plastic torso they had no difficulty picking out the muscles which they had built.
In my Tuesday class many students were not prepared, I think they were overwhelmed with the practical but most of my Wed students had their Bowden manual. It seems they also needed to be reminded about the ancillary illustrations as well even though they are listed on the lab syllabus.
I think the idea of Daniela doing the manikin is very helpful. Once she has done one herself she can be of more help to the students and we can keep her specimen in the study hall. I understand that doing the blood vessels on the naked half would avoid stripping off the muscles which we will have to do as we build the circulatory system in class, but the final product won’t resemble what the students are doing and so may cause some confusion.
What does everyone else think?
My first lab went pretty well. I should have emphasized more to bring the Bowden manual but since we worked as a group it did not make too much difference on the first day. However, I have a feeling that many in my class are still using Marieb and may not have the extra muscle manual. Are you finding that all of your students purchased the new lab manual package? I told them they will be needing it at the beginning of the semester ……..
Daniela – one of the Study Hall tutors will be working in Preethi’s lab building the model in real time – in other words the same amount of time as the students. I was planning on her to do the muscles on one side and she (or another tutor) the blood vessels on the other side. How does that sound?
I aggree they need time to examine each muscle so that they can place it correctly. I think building the manikin with the students is good as long as it doesn’t prevent the instructor from circulating around the home and helping those that need help and keeping the slower groups on track. It’s easy to get sucked into doing the clay modeling since it is fun and not providing as much guidance as may be needed.
With regard to omitting muscles, remember the list of muscles we require is a composite list of the needs of the PTA, OTA and nursing programs. We can always peel away the superficial muscles to reveal the deeper ones for the practical exam. Also by doing the deeper muscles the students develop an appreciation of the intricacy and complexity of the muscle system way beyond what they can gleam from the plastic muscle models.
I also agree that the students have a much better depth of understanding in terms of the relationship of the muscles and their attachment sites on bones. I have also used one of the mannikins as a guide for the students and have emphasized that they are not to model any of the muscles based on copying it off the mannikin or the book/illustrations. They would only build the muscle when they are entirely certain they knew where the attachment sites are & the relative shape & size of the muscle. When they understood this, they were able to study it more clearly. I am also considering building a mannikin along with the students so I can demonstrate each process along the way. Perhaps we can save more time & only build muscles that are going visible on completion. For instance, they could skip the gluteus minimus (& just study it on the model) since it would just get covered up by the gluteus medius & maximus. An additional set of tools specifically for the instructor’s desk would also be helpful.
I aggree Dennis the pencils would be helpful.
We did have the Amerman folks create composite illustrations for us since we were concerned with their initial illustrations. Take a look at the composite muscle illustrations in the Ancillary Illustrations that each student received with their lab package and which I left in the faculty mailboxes. Many of them are copies of the Marieb illustrations, though your suggestion is very helpful. Another way for them to see the composite relationships too is to keep a human torsos, leg and arm on each bench for them to refer to.
My class started with the clay modelling yesterday and the Bowen muscle atlas helped students see the origin and insertion of muscles and it would be great to include a couple of pencils in each of the draws to facilitate students in marking the manikins. Since the Amerman lab manual is no comparison to the Elaine Marieb lab book, I suggested my students to use the large laminated muscle poster and the plastic models as a guide to understand the relationship and depth of the muscles at different regions of the body. I initailly placed a display clay maniken on the main desk, but I quickly noticed that many of the students simply copied and placed the muscles onto their manikins without knowing what muscle nor their attachments, so I’ll stop that.
That sounds good to me. I’m eager to hear how this weeks lab goes too as we introduce the students to the manikins and they start their modeling. Carol
I am planning to work with Dr. Jaffri and Dr. Matcha next week on the mannikin Dr. Jaffri obtained. I will be coming in during Spring break as well. I am going to ask Alfredo for the clay and equipment so I and my cohorts can better familiarize ourselves with the activity as well as the logistics. I’ll let you know how it goes.