The Rope Method: A Novel Method of Teaching Rotation of the Midgut

A response to “Pulling my gut out—Simple tools for engaging students in gross anatomy lectures”

“…However, I feel that in terms of innovations, many times we end up confusing the students rather than helping them to understand the topic. The first impression I got when I read this article was that it is a combination of two articles which have been published already (Nayak, 2006;Nayak and Kramer, 2007). Regarding the tool used to demonstrate the rotation of the gut, in the article by Nayak and Kramer (2007), a newspaper and a rope were used.…”

“…The color concept used for the different parts of the gut is also the same. In addition, the model described by Nayak and Kramer (2007) has one hole for the primitive umbilicus as well as three arteries depicting the celiac trunk, superior mesenteric, and inferior mesenteric arteries. Chan (2010) in his model, used two holes to pull the foregut and hindguts.…”

Striking a balance between practicality and realism in developing teaching aids in anatomical education

“…The two holes in the apron were needed to hide the midgut behind the apron, and pull it out to demonstrate the midgut elongation. The apron is rather different from the newspaper model described by Nayak and Kramer (2007), in which the anterior abdominal wall is represented by a newspaper with a hole cut in it to allow demonstration of the physiological umbilical hernia. Professor Nayak might have confused the single hole in the anterior abdominal wall in his newspaper model with the two holes in my apron.…”

“…Teaching aids such as those described in Nayak (2006), Nayak and Kramer (2007), and Chan (2010) are not meant to be precise anatomical models. I completely agree with Professor Nayak that these teaching aids should not confuse the students by inaccurately representing anatomical structures.…”

“…I was not aware of the two articles cited in Nayak's letter (Nayak, 2006;Nayak and Kramer, 2007), which were published in a physiology journal. They are difficult to find in a routine search of electronic databases due to lack of precise anatomical and embryological Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms.…”