Page 33 - Eclipse - Autumn/Winter 2023

RESEARCH NEWS

Student Success at VetEd Conference

inal year student Abby McNeil
presented her undergraduate Figure 1: Abby presenting her poster presentation at VetEd
research project ‘Low-cost
Fsheep model aids students’
learning of injection sites and meat
cuts’ at July’s VetEd conference in
Edinburgh (Figure 1).
Her project looked at novel teaching
aids and how they may benefit our
undergraduate students’ learning of
farm topics through the integration
of models. It investigated perceived
veterinary student confidence before
and after use of the low-cost painted
fibreglass sheep (Figure 2), both in
conjunction with live animal sessions
as well as model only sessions.
Findings of her work showed
increased perceived student
confidence, and that there was no
statistical difference for neurodiverse
students. A key take home message
was an overwhelming majority saying
they would not have been able to learn
the topics as effectively without the
models (Figure 3).
This student’s success shows the
value of undergraduate research
projects and encourages future
research into farm animal models
within RVC teaching. The addition of
assessing knowledge retention, as
well as perceived confidence, will be
considered for future projects.
For access to the poster presentation Figure 2: Both sides of the painted
please see here: rvc.uk.com/low- fibreglass sheep model funded by
the RVC Animal Care Trust
cost-sheep-model

Figure 3: Graph showing the
overwhelming majoirty of respondants
felt that injection sites could not be learnt
as effectively without the model.

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