Tangible Neuroanatomy
Neuroanatomy is notoriously hard to learn from two-dimensional diagrams. The brain is a three-dimensional structure with spatial relationships that only become intuitive through manipulation. This project explores what it looks like to build learning tools that exploit that physicality.
Approach
The project combines 3D-printed brain region models with an AR overlay that surfaces labels, functions, and clinical correlates when a learner holds or examines a physical model. The physical act of rotating a structure, finding where two regions abut, and tracing a pathway through your hands encodes spatial information differently than any screen can.
What I learned
Tangible interfaces are genuinely underexplored in medical education. There’s a long tradition of procedural simulation (suturing pads, laparoscopy trainers) but almost nothing for cognitive content. The feedback from medical students using the prototype was consistent: the physical model changed how they thought about the structures, not just how they remembered labels.