Histology as a paradigm for a science-based learning experience: Visits by histology education spirits of past, present, and future.

The term "histology" was coined a little over 200 years ago and the subject has always relied on microscopy as its defining technology. Microscopy was and still is an essential approach for the description of cellular components and their arrangements in living organisms. For more than a century and a half, histology or microanatomy has also been part of the basic science education for biomedical students. Traditionally, it has been taught in two major components, a didactic transfer of information, either in a lecture or self-learning format, and in active-learning laboratory sessions. These two modes of histology instruction conform with the dual-processing theory of learning, one being more automatic and depending mainly on rote memorization, whereas the other is analytical, requiring more advanced reasoning skills. However, these two components of histology education are not separate and independent, but rather complementary and part of a multi-step learning process that encourages a scientific analysis of visual information and involves higher-level learning skills. Conventional, as well as modern electronic instruction methods (e-learning) have been used in complementary ways to support the integrated succession of individual learning steps as outlined in this manuscript. However, as recent curricular reforms have curtailed instructional time, this traditional format of teaching histology is no longer sustainable and a reflective reassessment of the role of histology in modern biomedical education is a timely necessity.