The "Neurospeed" game: a fun tool to learn the neurological semiology

"Pharmacotrophy": a playful tournament for game- and team-based learning in pharmacology education - assessing its impact on students' performance

BACKGROUND

At the Faculty of Pharmacy of Paris, we conducted a pharmacology tournament in 2021 and 2022, named "Pharmacotrophy", to offer a game-, team- and competitive-based learning innovation based on fun and challenge. This article aims to (1) provide a detailed overview of the organisation of "Pharmacotrophy," (2) present and compare feedback from both students and teachers, and (3) assess the impact of student participation on their exam marks.

METHODS

"Pharmacotrophy" took place in 2021 and 2022 over a two-week period at the beginning of the exam revision phase. It involved a combination of remote matches using the online quiz creation tool Kahoot!® and in-person matches. Teams, consisting of three students from the 4th or 5th year, participated in several selection rounds leading up to the final match. The questions covered various topics from the pharmacology curriculum. Using an anonymous online survey, we collected the feedback from students and teacher regarding the organisation of the tournament and the interest and difficulty of the different type of questions. We retrospectively compared the exam marks of 4th year students who took part in "Pharmacotrophy" (n2021 = 19 and n2022 = 20) with those of the rest of the 4th year (n2021 = 315-320 and n2022 = 279-281), both in the year before "Pharmacotrophy" and just after the tournament.

RESULTS

Students highlighted the educational benefits of team-based and game-based learning. This novel approach positively and constructively motivated students to review pharmacology. Additionally, students appreciated the establishment of a trust-based relationship with their teachers. All students had a similar pharmacology level based on their exam results in the year before "Pharmacotrophy." After the tournament, participants had marks 20.1% higher in pharmacology questions compared to non-participants (p = 0.02), while they had comparable overall levels, as evidenced by their final grade averages and marks in non-pharmacology questions. Moreover, participants who advanced further in the competition achieved higher marks in pharmacology questions compared to those who were eliminated early in the tournament.

CONCLUSION

The implementation of "Pharmacotrophy" provided students with an enjoyable way to review pharmacology coursework and revived the interest in pharmacology for some. Specifically, participating in "Pharmacotrophy" led to an increase in pharmacology marks for students who were not among the top performers in the class or did not excel in pharmacology in the previous year. This study quantified the pedagogical value of this innovative curriculum in terms of knowledge acquisition.

Tutorless board game as an alternative to tabletop exercise for disaster response training: perception of interaction engagement and behavioral intention

BACKGROUND

Although tabletop exercise is a commonly used method for disaster response training, it is labor-intensive, requires a tutor for facilitation and may not be ideal in a pandemic situation. Board game is a low-cost and portable alternative that can be utilized for this purpose. The purpose of this study was to compare the perception of interaction engagement and behavioral intention to use a newly developed board game with tabletop exercise for disaster training.

METHODS

Using the Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics' (MDA) framework, a new, tutorless educational board game known as the Simulated Disaster Management And Response Triage training ("SMARTriage") was first developed for disaster response training. Subsequently, the perceptions of 113 final year medical students on the "SMARTriage" board game was compared with that of tabletop exercise using a crossover design.

RESULTS

Using Wilcoxon signed rank test, it was that found that tabletop exercise was generally rated significantly higher (with p < 0.05) in terms of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and behavioral intention compared to tutorless "SMARTriage" board game. However, in terms of attitude and interaction engagement, there was no significant difference between these two learning methods for most of the items.

CONCLUSION

Although a clear preference for tutorless board game was not demonstrated, this study suggests that board game was not inferior to tabletop exercise in fostering interaction engagement suggesting that "SMARTriage" board game could potentially be used as an adjunct for teaching and learning activities.