Science teachers' drawings of what is inside the human body

The purpose of this study was to report United States of America (USA) science teachers' understandings of the internal structures of the human body. The 71 science teachers who participated in this study attended a frog/pig, two-hour dissection workshop at the 2004 National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The study population consisted of 47 females and 24 males. Prior to the workshop, teachers were given a blank piece of standard paper and were asked to write the following information: 1) gender; 2) subjects taught and subject most often taught; 3) why did you attend this workshop; 4) the number of years you have taught; and 5) if you employ dissection in your classroom. On the same paper, teachers were asked to draw what they thought was inside the human body (15 minutes). Each drawing was scored using a rubric. The number of years a teacher taught and whether or not they used dissection in their classroom did appear to influence their scores. Additionally, the teachers demonstrated a similar pattern to that shown by students in previous studies. The teachers were able to draw individual organs, but they were not able to draw the organs in relation to the organ systems.