Digital caricature drawing enhances students’ understanding in learning about chromosome

Abstract

Humans have 24 different types of chromosomes and each chromosome can be identified by its unique characteristics. In a cytogenetics laboratory, analyzing chromosomal characteristics is crucial because it is performed on real patient samples, allowing diseases to be diagnosed directly. However, identification of these chromosomes is difficult to perform for novices in this field, particularly biomedical science students. Drawing is one of the teaching and learning tools that has been shown to improve memory, information processing, cognitive process, and comprehension. The drawing approach is incorporated into the Cytogenetics subject due to these advantages. The students were given an Easy ID Chromosome Caricature e-Book, which contains a collection of human chromosomes with unique characteristics being highlighted and they must use a graphical software to transform the chromosomes into caricatures. Their feedback was gathered before and after the intervention was carried out. There were noticeable improvements in the students’ understanding of the chromosomes’ characteristics, ability to identify and differentiate the chromosomes based on their respective numbers and acquisition of relevant soft skills. Chromosome caricatures require high imagination and drawing skills, which could be used as alternative teaching and learning tools in Cytogenetics. The favorable feedback received encourages the strategy to be implemented in the subsequent cohorts of students.