HM Inspectorate of Education
Curriculum for Excellence

Anatomy Acts offers a wealth of opportunity to break down subject barriers and provide a forum for moral, ethical and historical discussion. HMIE ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ encourages teachers to take the initiative in providing a ‘holistic’ education for young people. Exhibitions such as Anatomy Acts allows pupils to make their own connections between the exhibits and their personal experience and opinion.

Curated from an Art perspective Anatomy Acts caters for a variety of learning styles and challenges traditional methods of display. Moving away from chronological arrangements towards a thematic approach encourages the visitor to acknowledge an emotional response without the objects being scientifically ‘over-explained’. 

The exhibition highlights the relationship between science and visual art. The exquisite drawings that are displayed in the gallery spaces were specifically created to enhance learning. Many surgeons were accomplished draftsmen and while drawing to inform their practice, retained a respect for the humanity of their subject evident in the sensitivity of their work.  As technology progresses, is their still a place for drawing as a learning process? This idea of ‘drawing as learning’ is one that can be explored through the exhibition by both science and art teachers.  In SQA examination papers students are required to draw, sketch, make diagrams and are assessed on such internally in a range of subjects including biology, maths, graphics and CDT. Therefore this concept is one that can benefit a wide range of subjects.

There are also many opportunities for English teachers looking for stimulating and challenging subjects for discursive essays, debating topics.  The exhibits in Anatomy Acts can be used to explore ideas around themes such as medical research, the investigation, storage and ownership of human remains, division of class in relation to medical advancement, health issues, and death and mortality.  These topics will also provide stimulus for Religious and Moral Education where the topics can be explored from an ethical and religious stand point.

Anatomy Acts will provide teachers with a wide variety of cross-curricular links. Individual subject teachers should be able to explore these possibilities themselves but talking with colleagues and sharing ideas will reap the most benefits.  Anatomy Acts can be used by teachers in the primary and secondary sector.  The following lesson plans show how specific subjects can be addressed by using Anatomy Acts however the concepts embraced by these lesson plans can be rolled out to cover a wide range of subjects and strands. 

A Quick Starting Point

Art/Science lessons - Drawing as learning

When using drawing in biology provide students with separate blank jotters and quality drawing pencils.

Ask students to make direct observational drawing from flowers, plants, joints (chicken leg). Consult with an art teacher to assist in teaching techniques.

If a diagram of the specimen just drawn is available, students can draw onto tracing paper and compare their observational drawings to the anatomical diagrams by layering the images.

Discuss the relationships between the simplification in diagrams and the reality in nature.