Abstract: Objective To evaluate the effect of participation in bone and joint specimen preparation on anatomy exam scores and medical students' feedback to the second anatomy classroom. Methods The students of “4+4” program of clinical medicine enrolled in 2021 were divided into experiment and control groups. The students in experiment group were asked to prepare joint specimens under the guidance of teachers in after class time, while the students in control group only required to observe the specimens. The anatomy exam scores of the two groups were analyzed and and questionnaire survey was implemented to collect students' feedback about the joint specimen preparation. Results There was no significant difference in the scores of final examiniation between the experiment group and the control group. However, the lowest and the highest correct rates in experimenl group (40% and 95% respectively) were both higher than that of the control group (32.5% and 82.5% respectively). If the correct rate of joint specimens was calculated separately, the experiment group (87.0%±16.7%) was significantly higher than that of control group (66.7%±24.3%) (P＜0.01). In the limb theory test, the mean score of the experiment group (84.7%±20.5%) was significantly higher than that of the control group (69.3%±14.5%) (P＜0.05). The students gave a high evaluation to the joint specimen preparation in after class time or called second classroom. Conclusions Medical students' participation in joint specimen preparation as the second classroom can improve their learning outcomes and this second classroom strategy as a supplement to the first classroom may be potentiallt shared by other medical schools.

Key words: human anatomy, second classroom, joint, specimen preparation