Does learning by drawing from a multimedia document improve knowledge and self-assessment in anatomical education? | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Does learning by drawing from a multimedia document improve knowledge and self-assessment in anatomical education? Laura Leconte, Eric Jamet This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6989423/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 16 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Advances in Health Sciences Education → Version 1 posted 7 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Asking students to draw elements of human anatomy constitutes a learning strategy that can lead to a more in-depth processing of pedagogical content. Two studies investigated the effect of a drawing activity on nursing students’ anatomy learning and self-evaluation. In Study 1 (N = 46), a condition without drawing was compared to a condition with drawing. In Study 2 (N = 97) the same protocol was used while incorporating a segmentation of the reading and generating tasks. To examine the effect that changing the order of the tasks had, three groups were compared: a control group, a consultation-drawing group, and a drawing-consultation group. The results demonstrated that drawing improved the spatial organization of knowledge, as evidence by better performance on the visuospatial knowledge test, without effect of order in the second study. In addition, both studies showed a positive effect of drawing on self-assessment. Students who had made drawings exhibited better evaluations of their knowledge after the learning task than those who had not. However, no effect of the drawing activity was observed on the recall of nonpictorial information or comprehension. learning by drawing strategy multimedia learning visuospatial anatomical knowledge self-assessment tablet-based learning Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 16 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Advances in Health Sciences Education → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 01 Feb, 2026 Reviews received at journal 23 Nov, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 31 Oct, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 15 Sep, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 27 Jun, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 27 Jun, 2025 First submitted to journal 27 Jun, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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