The effectiveness of laboratory vs written examinations in an anatomy course.

This paper reports a two-year study on the methods used to evaluate 63 junior occupational therapy students in a musculo-skeletal anatomy course offered at the University of Florida. Laboratory learning processes were not significantly different compared to class learning processes as shown by test results. There was also no significant difference between laboratory and written examination scores in anatomy when compared with final grades in subsequent courses with both laboratory and lecture components. This study was undertaken because of the varying attitudes of students and faculty and their knowledge about the most efficient and productive manner in which to conduct the course. Very little research on educational methods has been completed in our profession and the validation of current methods is needed.

Discovering the lifestyle of the physically disabled.

The "discovery process" learned in the Leadership Training Institute sponsored by the American Occupational Therapy Association was used as the foundation for a course offered to senior occupational therapy students. The students had completed required courses in the curriculum and had returned from six months of field work experience. They had little or no exposure to patients outside a hospital setting. The objectives of the course were: (1) To offer the student an experience in which he could gain an understanding of a physically disabled person's natural environment and the forces exerted on him within that environment; and (2) to offer the student an opportunity to develop issues relevant to that physically handicapped person's life style and, by using that person's natural abilities, assist him to adapt to or change his environment. The process that evolved between the students and the handicapped people that they visited in the community is discussed.