Affiliations 

  • 1 Universiti Sains Malaysia
MyJurnal

Abstract

Phy-Antastic is the pioneering horizontally-integrated pedagogy that adopts physiology-oriented
anatomy teaching. A decline in time allocation for basic medical sciences (BMS) modules triggers
the conflict of interests among educators. “Physiology-then-Anatomy” temporal synchronisation
(and therefore Phy-Antastic) facilitates deep learning. The five highlighted features of Phy-Antastic
are: (i) explicit declaration of learning outcomes and prerequisite knowledge as groundwork for
the forthcoming topics; (ii) explanation of subject-related glossary to improve comprehension;
(iii) elucidation of the related physiological mechanism to calibrate the learners into appreciating
the cardinal anatomical features; (iv) the creative utilisation of multimodal teaching aids to simulate
consolidated learning experience; (v) lesson was concluded by revisiting learning objectives, reflection
on principal inquiry questions and recapitulating fundamental elements. The strength of Phy-Antastic
depends on homeostatic teaching with rigorous educational outcome set-point and interdisciplinary
feedback mechanisms. Small group discussion, problem-based learning and technology-assisted
teaching can easily incorporate Phy-Antastic. Inertia among BMS educators in embracing
interdisciplinary collaborative teaching remains the institutional barrier to the implementation of
Phy-Antastic. This article proposes a prospective advancement in anatomical education for the
contemplation of educators.