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Cranial Nerve Nuclei Matching Game - Advanced

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posted on 2024-10-21, 10:01 authored by Rachael Door

This game is great as a group activity for students who need to consolidate their understanding of the cranial nerve nuclei and follows on very well from the cranial nerve matching game also shared here (linked under Related Materials below and to the right).

The nuclei are black, the cranial nerves are red (multiples to allow sufficient for each relevant nucleus), and the categories of nuclei are blue.

This game requires more tutor-guidance than simple CN matching if this is the students first encounter with the nuclei. The tutor can introduce the 4 categories of nuclei and share rules for remembering them e.g. for somatic motor think eyes and tongue, and for branchial motor think pharyngeal arch derivatives etc. Once these have been introduced the students can then work in a team to allocate the appropriate CNs to each category using their existing knowledge of CN function.

Once students have allocated CNs to the 4 categories, the tutor can then introduce the groups of nuclei. Starting with the sensory nuclei tends to be simpler and then the team can progress up to the motor nuclei. We found the following order worked best: sensory, somatic motor, parasympathetic, and finally branchial motor. Branchial motor are typically the more challenging ones for students to assign CNs to and as such leaving these until last allows them to develop their confidence as they go.

Once this has been completed in a tutor-supported format it is good to mix them all up and encourage students to complete again following the rules and tips provided by the tutor.

These simple cards create an excellent scaffold for tutor-student discussions around all the CN nuclei and clinical implications, particularly medial and lateral brainstem syndromes.

*Note - The non-eponymous term for the Edinger-Westphal nucleus should be used where possible (Accessory oculomotor).

History

Advance HE Fellowship status

  • Senior Fellowship

Author's role

  • Academic staff

Accessibility status

  • Not accessible, or has not been checked

Twitter username

@RachaelEllen_

Affiliation

Keele University

Date of resource creation

October 2024

Language

English

Learning Resource Type

  • Activity/Lab

Target Group or Audience

Medical / anatomy / neuroanatomy / health science students

Learning Outcome

Applied knowledge of cranial nerve nuclei

Target Expertise or Skill Level

  • Intermediate

Institutional email address

r.e.door@keele.ac.uk

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