A consequence of Covid-19 pandemic over the world has been the move to online events, Kuala Lumpur Engineering Science Fair 2020 (KLESF 2020) was no different. Following the opening ceremony on 12 December 2020, a line-up of online activities was conducted to spark students' curiosity and interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

As a part of the e-KLESF events, an online workshop titled “HEART: Anatomy × Art” was organised on 13 December 2020. The workshop was conducted for secondary school students via Zoom and Facebook live. The aims of the workshop were to nurture an appreciation of the interdependence between arts and science among students, to inculcate their passion towards anatomical science, as well as to develop their psychomotor skills in STEM education by using arts as a conduit.

The instructors for the workshop were Senior Lecturer Chan Jer Jing and Lecturer Ho Wai Yew from UTAR Centre for Foundation Studies of Kampar Campus. In the workshop, Chan first gave a brief introduction on the heart, “The heart has been regarded as the seat of the soul, spirit and intelligence by ancient civilisations. From the biology viewpoint, the heart plays a vital role in the continuity of life. The moment the heart stops beating, life ends.” 

She shared the history of discovery of the heart and said, “The Greek philosopher Aristotle identified the heart as the most important organ of the body, the first to form according to his observations of chick embryos. In the 2nd century AD, a physician, surgeon and philosopher named Galen reaffirmed common ideas about the heart as the source of the body's innate heat and as the organ most closely related to the soul.” She then shared the different interpretations of the heart given by intellectuals from varying centuries. 

“The English physician William Harvey mentioned that the heart is situated at the 4th and 5th ribs. The heart's role is to transmit blood by means of the arteries to the extremities everywhere. By the end of the seventeenth century, the anatomical knowledge of the heart was surprisingly accurate and Harvey's ideas were widely accepted until today,” she said. 

The workshop then continued with an interactive drawing session. Chan and Ho provided a step-by-step guide for drawing an anatomically-accurate diagram of the heart while explaining the functions and parts of the heart. The participants get to learn the parts of the heart with diagram labelled, and it could be a very good study tool for them to review at home. The participants may also submit their drawing learned from the workshop for a chance to win prizes.