AN INTERACTIVE LASER VIDEO DISC TO TEACH THE FUNCTIONAL-ANATOMY OF THE RAT

This article describes an interactive laser video disc designed as a h igh-quality learning aid to teach the functional anatomy of the rat fo r students of biology at high-school/undergraduate level. It covers, i n detail, five areas of a rat dissection, (external features, abdomen, thorax, neck, and head), and also contains a large number of histolog ical sections which illustrate the cellular detail of many mammalian t issues. The text and high-quality, digitized images presented on a com puter screen ore supported by high-quality full-screen, full-colour mo ving video sequences on a separate video monitor. The dissection image s ore organized within a HyperCard stack and are supported by a large amount of on-line, Hypertext information describing the functional ana tomy of the rot which is accessed in on highly interactive way. The so ftware allows full control over the loser disc and offers facilities s uch as three levels of magnification of certain images, views of the d issection from both above and the side, and the opportunity to interch ange views from animals of either sex. The software program may also b e edited by the teacher and is easily extended or customized for a spe cific function. It is anticipated that this package will be used in a student centred way, with students directing the content and sequence of material presented to them. The material described may supplement a ctual animal dissection and, in some instances, provide a realistic al ternative means of achieving many of those learning objectives traditi onally addressed by performing a mammalian dissection.