Korean J Anat.  2005 Dec;38(6):487-493.

Study on the Differences between High School Biology Textbook Terminologies and Official Terminologies of Histology or Embryology

• Park KH
• Park J

Abstract

College students, who major in health science, feel troubles in learning histology or embryology due to the differences between medical terminology and biological terminologies used in high school course. Moreover, the differences can cause errors in communication between patients and medical personnel. So we investigated and analyzed the terminologies used in 7 high school biology textbooks, and compared them with official histological or embryological terminologies and official biological terminologies (Korean association of biological science). The concordance rates of high school biology terms with histological or embryological terminologies were just 42.3+/-4.0% or 55.8+/-18.1%, while those with official biological terminology were significantly higher (74.0+/-3.8% or 89.5+/- 8.0%). Most notable differences between high school biology textbook terminologies and histological terminologies were found in the chapter of the urinary system. In addition, several eponyms and unofficial word spacing were noted in high school textbooks. These results can be served as valuable basic resources for revision and standardization of terminologies used in the biomedical fields. Collaboration among anatomists, biologists and high school teachers is thought be prerequisite.

Keyword

High school; Textbook; Biological terminology; Histological terminology; Embryological terminology

MeSH Terms

Anatomists
Biology*
Cooperative Behavior
Embryology*
Eponyms
Humans
Learning