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.