A Sizzling Collection of Anatomy Games & Resources!

It is amazing how much knowledge, skills and attitudes a medical student must internalize (memorize, understand, apply and practice) before he or she can graduate, and making that learning journey a bit more engaging and exciting would surely not hurt. Personally, I would probably need brain shock therapy before even grasping the basics of Anatomy during the first semester. The language used for anatomy is way too complex for my impatient and simplifying brain to learn.

Interestingly, a pro-active IMU student (Ibnu Haniffa) shared an awesome Anatomy Arcade Games site on IMU E-Learning Facebook page recently (22/01/2011), and that just sparked me to an unexplored galaxy of great anatomy games and resources. In other words, unless you are using some of the sites coming next, why not spice up your Anatomy learning activities (or reading list) with some of the sizzling resources shared right here:

• WebAnatomy
  A collection of study aids and games from University of Minnesota for entry-level anatomy and physiology students. For example, the Anatomy Bowl multiplayer games could be used to spark the class to life learning different aspects of anatomy in a competitive, but exciting manner.
  
  
• Anatomy Arcade Games (Ben Crossett)
  This mission was born of frustration with what he saw as a lack of truly engaging material in the area of anatomy and also a frustration as a teacher catching students wasting class time playing flash games every time they were in a computer lab. The catch phrase "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" sums up the decision he made; to investigate the potential of these "pesky" little games to invigorate the delivery of anatomical material to the teenage audience (Source). Use some of these awesome anatomy games in your class (collaborative fun!), or at least share these games with your students where relevant.
  
  
• Visible Body (3D Human Anatomy)
  Visible Body is a content and software development firm that produces award-winning interactive and visual content. Visible Body's clients include many of the world's top pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and educational publishing companies. The revolutionary Visible Body web application is a 3D human anatomy visualization and learning tool available by subscription.
  
  
• BBC Interactive Body
  A sizzling free 3D animated anatomy resource that even includes interactive games to explore the senses, organs, skeleton, muscles and the nervous system.
  
  
• Get Body Smart
  Visually learn about the human body through beautifully detailed and interactive Flash animations.
  
  
• The Virtual Sports Injury Clinic
  Covers interactive information on over 100 sports injuries.
  
  
• TeachPE
  Check out the anatomical section especially on bones, muscles, the heart, lungs and energy systems.
  
  
• Human Embryology Animations
  It explores General Embryology, Cardiovascular Embryology, Development of the Head and Neck, Gastrointestinal Embryology, Development of the Limbs, and Urinary and Reproductive Embryology. Amazing stuff!
  
  
• Think Anatomy
  Is the creation of Vanessa Ruiz, art director, medical illustrator, blogger, and all out anatomy fanatic. This great site links, categorizes and discusses the best anatomy resources on the Internet.
  
  
• Street Anatomy
  Covers the use of human anatomy in medicine, art, and design (Vanessa Ruiz again!).
  
  
• Ourselves & Our Bodies (Shambles)
  A growing collection of excellent anatomy resources worth visiting once a while to discover new anatomy learning gems.
  
  
• To be Discovered!
  If you have any other excellent (free) anatomy online resources that you want to share, please share them in the comments section, and it will be added (if appropriate). Thanks :)
  
  

Ibnu Haniffa, thank you for being a pro-active students sharing your learning discoveries, and hopefully more students (lecturers and learners) will participate in sharing their learning discoveries on IMU E-Learning Facebook (or here!).

Finally, now we should not have any excuses in making our anatomy classes (or courses) boring, because with physical anatomy tools (at the medical museum), and sizzling online resources above, we have tremendous opportunities and possibilities to engage and inspire the medical students' mind, body and soul like never before :)