If you are aware of other examples you believe to be important to include here, please send the information to HEVM for consideration.
Some of the citations below are for undergraduate college or human medicine, but could be relevant to veterinary medicine.
New addition:
Cardiovascular physiology teaching: Computer simulations vs. animal demonstrations
HUMAN. A comprehensive physiological model
Ventilatory control (Ventrol) simulation for education
The following includes literature which is relevant to the issue of physiology instruction. The titles are linked either to a publicly available copy of the document or to a digital object identifier. If there are illustrations which may be publicly viewable, these are also linked, but there is no guarantee that they would be viewable across all platforms.
Boyle, Joseph 1991-12-01 Ventilatory control (Ventrol) simulation for education The American Journal of Physiology 261(6):S25-S29
An educational microcomputer-based simulation of respiratory control has been developed. The program contains three major sections: tutorial, stimulation, and unknown testing. The tutorial section provides a brief discussion of the major factors involved in respiratory control. The simulation section provides a menu of variables to demonstrate the effects of altering inspired gases, changing compliance or airway resistance, metabolic acidosis, neural activity, and lesions (including vagotomy) or exercise. The last section of the program allows students to test their understanding of abnormal respiratory and blood gas values. The program has been used as a problem-solving exercise in a medical physiology course. Student groups were assigned to a microcomputer and given a specific problem during a regularly scheduled laboratory period. The students collected data using the program, analyzed and graphed or tabulated the results, and presented their findings in a minisymposium format to their fellow students. This approach has proven valuable and provides a number of pedagogical benefits that are lacking in a lecture-based basic science curriculum.
Coleman, Thomas G. and Randall, James E. 1983-02-01 HUMAN. A comprehensive physiological model The Physiologist 26(1):15-21
The purpose of the present paper is to describe to physiology teachers the potential of a comprehensive model, called HUMAN. This model consists of the dynamic interactions of over 150 physiological variables and integrated approximations of cardiovascular, renal, lung, temperature regulation, and some hormone functions…The model may be used to simulate physiological experiments or to simulate patient pathology.
Dewhurst, D.G.; Hardcastle, J.; Hardcastle, P.T. and Stuart, E. 1994-12-01 Comparison of a computer simulation program and a traditional laboratory practical class for teaching the principles of intestinal absorption The American Journal of Physiology 267(6):S95-S104
Here we describe an evaluation of the effectiveness, compared with a traditional laboratory, of an interactive computer-assisted learning (CAL) program, which simulates a series of experiments performed using isolated, everted sacs of rat small intestine. … It was found that the knowledge gain of both groups of students was the same, that students had a positive attitude toward using CAL programs of this type, and that the cost of the conventional laboratory-based approach was five times greater.
Fawver, Amy L.; Branch, Charles E.; Trentham, Landa; Robertson, B.T. and Beckett, S.D. 1990 A comparison of interactive videodisc instruction with live animal laboratories The American Journal of Physiology 259(6):S11-S14
The authors (Colleges of Veterinary Medicine and Education, Auburn, Alabama, United States) compared students learning cardiovascular physiology and fibrillation/positive pressure ventilation using traditional labs that used and killed animals versus an interactive videodisc-simulated lab. As of the time of the publication of this article, the program described was commercially available. One would need to find and contact one of the authors to get more information.
…the interactive videodisc-simulated lab was as effective as the traditional live-animal labs and was more time efficient than the traditional participation lab.
Hawkins, Eleanor C.; Hansen, Bernie and Bunch, Brenda L. 2003 Use of animation-enhanced video clips for teaching abnormal breathing patterns Journal of Veterinary Medical Education 30(1):73-77
The ABV [animated breathing pattern videotape] is a collection of video clips of small animal patients with normal and abnormal breathing patterns on a conventional videotape of approximately 20 minutes duration. Each video clip is shown for 20 to 40 seconds, followed by the same clip with superimposed animation of rib and diaphragm motion, followed by the initial clip again, without overlying animation.
Leathard, H.L. and Dewhurst, D.G. 1995-01-01 Comparison of the cost-effectiveness of a computer-assisted learning program with a tutored demonstration to teach intestinal motility to medical students Research in Learning Technology 3(1):118-125
No significant difference was found in the performances of preclinical medical students who used a traditional live animal lab and those who used a computer simulation on intestinal motility.
Minekus, Mans; Marteau, Phillipe; Havenaar, Robert and Huis in ‘t Veld, Jos H.J. 1995 A multicompartmental dynamic computer-controlled model simulating the stomach and small intestine Alternatives to Laboratory Animals 23(2):197-209
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Although this was intended to be used in a research setting, it could also be used for education.
A multicompartmental in vitro model has been described, which simulates the dynamic events occurring within the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract of man and monogastric animals. … The model appeared to reproduce accurately the pre-set data on meal transit, pH and bile salt concentrations in the different gastrointestinal compartments. Glucose absorption from the small intestine was almost complete. This model reproduces very closely the dynamic conditions based on the in vivo situation in monogastric animals and man.
Samsel, Richard W.; Schmidt, Gregory A.; Hall, Jesse B.; Wood, Lawrence D.H.; Shroff, Sanjeev G. and Schumacker, Paul T. 1994-06-01 Cardiovascular physiology teaching: Computer simulations vs. animal demonstrations The American Journal of Physiology 266(6):S36-S46
We used both computer and animal demonstrations in teaching cardiovascular physiology to first-year medical students. The students rated both highly, but the computer-based session received a higher rating…At the introductory level, the computer appears to provide an effective alternative.
Updated 2025-09-04