Drawing skills in anatomy education and the millennial learner: A cognitive and metacognitive viewpoint

Drawing can be a useful tool to elicit student thinking and is a widely-used method for communicating scientific ideas. The task of drawing requires students to identify and recall necessary pieces of information they assimilated over a period of time and construct a mental model. However, millennial generation learners, owing to their immersion in 3D technologies, lack interest in practicing and learning from diagrams. This impairs learning and retention of visually-oriented subjects. In this perspective, we reflect on the cognitive and metacognitive processes associated with drawing to emphasize the important role of drawing in present day anatomy education.