This fall, the biology department officially changed the anatomy and physiology classes to the combined Anatomy and Physiology (A&P) I and II. What used to be two separate classes is now two subjects taught in conjunction over two semesters.
Riley Lovejoy, professor of anatomy and physiology, helped implement this change. She explained that when the classes were taught separately, professors would need to mention physiological concepts to explain anatomy and then review anatomical concepts when teaching physiology.
“We thought we would be able to teach more effectively and be able to actually cover a bit more information if we did them in more of an integrative fashion,” Lovejoy said.
Anatomy is the study of structure, while physiology is the study of function. The structure and function of the human body inform each other, and it makes sense to combine these two intertwined concepts.
Having the classes combined means there are separate labs, helping students better meet the requirements for professional schools, like getting a doctorate in physical therapy.
“There’s more of that lab component than they had originally, and hopefully it’s putting the pieces together a little bit more clearly,” she said.
All nursing and pre-health students take these classes and will be affected by this change, including pre-pharmacy, nutrition, pre-physical therapy and kinesiology.
“There’s just certain things that I didn’t feel like we had time to do justice to in the old system because we were having to spend that time sort of doing a little bit of both but trying to not,” Lovejoy said.
Lovejoy talked the idea over with Katelynn Corder over the past two years and the two professors worked together to get everything prepared for the change.
“I will say, in the old system, there were some areas where we definitely fell short,” Lovejoy said. “And so [we were] trying to figure out how to kind of restructure the courses so that we could do justice to all the material that they really needed to be exposed to without making it unreasonable for the students.”
Annie Robertson is a nursing major who took the two classes under the old, separated structure.
“I think there’s pros and cons to both,” she said. “I’m the type of person that likes to kind of split up into smaller chunks and pieces, so I would have preferred the classes to be separated. I have friends in that class right now and they say it’s very overwhelming, just with all the information combined.”
Lovejoy said she thinks the material has been making more sense for students, since the two studies are inseparably intertwined. The professors are also still learning what is working this semester and will make tweaks as they go into future semesters with these courses.
This semester, Samford has offered physiology for those students who had already studied anatomy under the old sequence. Incoming students have begun with the new sequence of A&P I and II.
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