Gamification as a tool for medical education in anatomy: A preliminary study

Medical education has undergone transformations in recent times, in order to adapt the technological innovations with the potential to contribute positively to the teaching‐learning process. Gamification appears as a didactic strategy that consists in use of digital games and the accomplishment of innovative interventions directed in the classroom. In this sense, the objectives of the research are: (1) to describe the pedagogical strategy of anatomical games in a medical university with low cost and (2) to examine the relationship between the interventions and the academic performance of the medical students involved. METHODS The study has been made in Anatomy of Systems (Faculty of Medicine ‐Federal University of Bahia). The activities consist of games with questions and answers about anatomy topics covered during the semester. Participation in the games occurs voluntarily. The students are grouped in alphabetical order in competing teams. Questions are decoded through QR CODE or drawn through PRIZE WHEEL, a roulette wheel produced with recycled material, color graded in 16 divisions, with possibilities to answer questions, win or lose a point, try it again or lose the turn. Indirect questions are use in HANGMAN GAME and revelled the structure, there are new question about his function, location or clinical application. RESULTS Gamification has contributed to the sedimentation and application of anatomical knowledge, stimulating motivation and enthusiasm for student self‐learning. Unlike the conventional methodologies of teaching anatomy, anatomical games achieved their purpose by allowing the development of specific skills and competences such as cooperation, organization, time management and creativity, which were continuously stimulated during the games. Students shared their learning and doubts and sought to solve the issues presented through the socialization of information and integration of the team. The proposal also allowed the establishment of relations between the morphological sciences and the medical clinic, in an attempt to bring the discipline closer to the practical reality of the medical professional, as recommended by the national curricular guidelines of the medical course. The success of the activity was evidenced from the high participation rate of the class in the second edition of the anatomical games, held in the following semester. The competition between the teams, although studies point to anxiety as a negative point, has the potential to boost performance academic. In this sense, the fraternization at the end of the activities served to illustrate that, in addition to the competition and having a team with a higher score, all win in the learning area. CONCLUSION From this project, the gamification is playful and can be used as a complementary activity of medical course. The use of new games, software and application of evaluation questionnaires are foreseen in future. In addition to contributing to sediment and consolidating the learning of the discipline, gamification has enabled the personal and academic growth of those involved and shows that, regardless of the winning team, success is in improving the learning process. This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal .