Introduction – Teaching human anatomy and physiology is an integral part of teaching for medical students, but also for many other students, for example those studying nursing and the biosciences. Teaching anatomy is complex and challenging due to the vast differences in anatomical features throughout the body; each tissue type and organ has a unique structure which closely relates to function. Although medical students have access to cadavers so they can see anatomy in situ, most students of anatomy do not have access to these, so other teaching methods are needed. Successful learning of anatomy is associated with good memory, understanding and visualisation (Pandey & Zimitat, 2007). The Learning Pyramid (National Training Lab, n.d.) suggests that around 75% is retained where students ‘practice by doing’, compared with 20% retention for a PowerPoint presentation. Additionally, medical students have been shown to have a better retention of anatomical features where they have been encouraged to draw the anatomy themselves, rather than just looking at diagrams (Azer, 2011). In the current pilot study of Biomedical and Medical Science students, we compared different methods of teaching anatomy and students’ perception of retention of knowledge. Methodology – Approximately 150 students were taught anatomy of various organs either using PowerPoint presentations to show and describe them, or interactive sessions, where students draw the anatomy alongside the lecturer. A pilot group of students was randomly selected (n=15), and a brief anonymous survey was designed to gain feedback on students’ perception of knowledge retention. At the end of the academic year the full data set will be analysed and compared with exam performance. DMU ethical approval has been granted for this study. Results – Preliminary data indicates that more students can remember how to draw gross organ anatomy following an interactive session compared to a PowerPoint presentation (87 % vs. 7 %, respectively; P<0.05; Fisher’s Exact Test; see Figure 1). Additional student feedback was given by free text comments, the examples below are indicative of the type of feedback received. “Now I can draw the kidney it really helps me understand how it works!” “Going through step by step really helped me to remember the anatomy” “I thought drawing in class helped me to understand the organ as a whole” Discussion – This current pilot study shows that a simple method (learning by drawing) can be effective when teaching anatomy and how this aids understanding physiology. Almost all students reported a significant increase in their knowledge retention when they had been taught with this method. This study will be extended to include feedback from all students and analysis of exam performance, and will inform future teaching methods on anatomy and physiology modules.