A digital anatomy learning tool developed by Kirsten Moisio, PT, PhD, professor of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences, has been named a winner of the National Science Foundation VITAL Prize Challenge.

The National Science Foundation’s Visionary Interdisciplinary Teams Advancing Learning (VITAL) Prize Challenge aims to bring innovations into K-12 classrooms to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The challenge is supported by a partnership between the National Science Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Schmidt Futures and Walton Family Foundation. 

The tool, Dissect 360, is designed to enable students in grades 6-12 to digitally explore a 3D human brain scanned from a real donor and learn human anatomy through games and puzzles.

The idea for Dissect 360 came from Moisio’s physical therapy students at Feinberg who often asked to spend more time studying already dissected donor specimen, Moisio said. Because of the logistical challenges that come with preserving prosected specimen for physical therapy and medical student study and dissection, Moisio set out to create a digital tool that would allow students to study highly-detailed human anatomy outside of class.

“Over the past two years our team has focused on bringing the traditional anatomy lab into the digital world for medical education. Now, we want the same opportunity for 6 to 12 grade students,” Moisio said. “Too many students in underserved communities never have exposure to human anatomy or health professions to determine if it’s an interest for them.”

Dissect 360 is unique in that it allows students to learn from digital 3D models of real human anatomy from donors, as opposed to illustrations or computer-generated models. Interaction with the brain allows for full 360-degree engagement, zooming to the smallest structure, and brain layers that can be investigated from inside out. Additionally, the tool incorporates social-emotional learning targeted for the teen years; students can track which parts of the brain develop over time and understand the physiology behind teen risk-taking behavior.

“Our contribution is significant because it provides a resource for students and teachers that presents the color, complexity and level of detail formerly visible only in an anatomy lab,” Moisio said. “Instead of flat videos, PDFs and textbooks, students can engage with our solution in an interactive way, engaging their brains on many levels — visual, tactile and kinesthetic — to support learner variability.”

Moving forward, Moisio and her team hope to expand Dissect 360 to include more anatomical regions and make those tools available to both Feinberg and 6-12 students, she said.

“I hope this inspires curiosity and wonder in anatomy for learners, specifically what we look like under our skin and how things function,” Moisio said. “These tools are accessible to us as scientists, but they really should be accessible for students and teens. They should know what research says about their brain and what it’s doing.”