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TOMBALL, TX: Science and healthcare classes will never be the same at Lone Star College-Tomball. The college, which continues to be at the forefront of educating a new generation of healthcare workers, is revolutionizing the way its students learn anatomy. Now, when students enter the science lab, they experience, and interact with, a full size 3-D digital carbon copy of a complete human body.
“This new tool allows a student to really see what you will never see in a textbook,” said Catherine Gray, MN, RN, and Director of LSC-Tomball Nursing Programs. “Students can rotate the image, zoom in on organs, muscle groups and bones and get a real sense of the actual size and how all the parts connect with each other.
The Anatomage Table is LSC-Tomball’s new, leading-edge table-top virtual dissection system. It is the most technologically advanced anatomy visualization system developed for use in the classroom, featuring an intuitive hands-on interface that allows students and educators to quickly explore and examine all aspects of the human body.
“To see the whole cardiovascular operation of the heart, especially with the circulatory and nervous system in real time, is absolutely phenomenal.”
Large, high definition touch-screen monitors occupy a surface similar to an operating room table and the screens are controlled by a powerful built-in computer. Instead of a scalpel, users interact with their fingers, touching the screens and manipulating the images as they would a cell phone or tablet. Individual body parts are rendered in accurate 3D and can be rotated, enlarged, animated, isolated and dissected. The table allows for exploration and learning of human anatomy beyond what any cadaver could offer.
“This is a powerful teaching aid for every instructor,” Gray said. “More importantly, it’s a powerful learning tool for students, and that's what it's about. It's about the student being able to understand fully what's going on with the interplay of multiple systems within the human body.”
The Anatomage Table will also become part of the Veterinary Technology Department’s educational program. The image library is loaded with over 40 scans of various species and segmented cadavers giving students the capability of comparing the anatomy of different animals for education or research.
The nursing program at Lone Star College-Tomball is well-known for providing a quality education to prepare competent, caring, and ethical students for the healthcare professions. The college offers an accessible setting for a nursing education where students of all backgrounds may achieve their goals. The nursing programs offer state of the art simulation equipment and laboratories. A supportive faculty and staff provide students with experiences that include hands on laboratory, classroom, and clinical facility rotations.
Lone Star College-Tomball is located at 30555 Tomball Parkway, at the intersection of SH 249 and Zion Road. For more information about the college, call 281.351.3300 or visit LoneStar.edu/Tomball.
Lone Star College offers high-quality, low-cost academic transfer and career training education to 99,000 students each semester. LSC is training tomorrow’s workforce today and redefining the community college experience to support student success. Stephen C. Head, Ph.D., serves as chancellor of LSC, the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area with an annual economic impact of nearly $3 billion. LSC consists of six colleges, 10 centers, two university centers, Lone Star Corporate College and LSC-Online. To learn more, visit LoneStar.edu.
LSC-Tomball faculty and staff receive an orientation at the Anatomage Table, LSC-Tomball’s new, leading-edge table-top virtual dissection system.
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