The impact of using three-dimensional digital models of human embryos in the biomedical curriculum

摘要

Background: Knowledge of embryonic development is essential to understand the positioning of organs in the human body. Unfortunately, (bio)medical students have to struggle with textbooks that use static, two-dimensional (2D) schematics to grasp the intricate three-dimensional (3D) morphogenesis of the developing human body. To facilitate embryology education on an understandable and scientific level, a 3D Atlas of Human Embryology (3D Atlas) was created (Science, 2016), encompassing 14 interactive 3D-PDFs of various stages of human embryonic development (freely available from http://www.3datlasofhumanembryology.com). This study examined whether the use of the 3D atlas has added educational value and improves the students learning experience.