TITLE:
PhysioArt: How We Made Physiology Study Enjoyable during Isolation Due to COVID-19
AUTHORS:
Beatriz Frederico Oliveira-Silveira, Isabelly Cabral Souto, João Marcos Lima-Garcia, Valdir Andrade Braga, Atalia Ferreira Lima Flôr, Rayane Maria Pessoa de Souza, Francineide Fernandes-Costa, Josimari M. DeSantana, Josiane Campos Cruz
KEYWORDS:
Physiology, Art, Education, Pandemic, COVID-19
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.13 No.1,
January
28,
2022
ABSTRACT: Many recent studies have alerted us to the health problems that students had to deal with during the COVID-19 isolation period. In this scenario, educators must consider new strategies to make online classes more attractive and enjoyable. We incorporated the PhysioArt project into our virtual classes. Here, we demonstrate how we made our online classes more pleasant and interesting through the interaction between physiology and art. We prepared an online multidisciplinary course, integrating anatomy, the history of science, and mythology, together with different art expressions. Thereafter, the students were invited to remotely recreate an artwork masterpiece based on the context of physiology. Our integrative classes and the PhysioArt project stimulated creativity and rationality, and it was an excellent strategy to motivate and increase student interest in learning physiology. This pedagogical online strategy, carried out during the coronavirus pandemic, has contributed to decreased social isolation and depression symptoms, as declared by many of the participants in our online class.