Combining Active Learning and Immediate Quiz Feedback: Engaging Students in Anatomy! Medical Jeopardy

Abstract

IntroductionGame‐based learning is a form of blended and interactive learning that engages students in fun, active tasks to encourage knowledge acquisition and retention. Adult learning theory further supports active forms of learning that include formative feedback for students to practice application of their knowledge. Recent years, there has been an emphasis of quiz‐based games in medical education from pre‐clerkship to clerkship curricula. These games range from large group competitive gaming to computer‐based simulation skill games. As part of our commitment to enhance learning and retention of fundamental anatomical concepts, we created a modified version of the quiz‐based game Jeopardy!.ObjectiveThis study reports student attitudes on the utility of a quiz‐based game as a learning modality.MethodsIn collaboration with our Academic Technology staff, we adapted the Jeopardy! game to create Anatomy! Medical Jeopardy utilizing Articulate 360 course creation software. We implemented two Anatomy! Medical Jeopardy games in our 18‐week Medical Gross Anatomy course. These sessions were mandatory (n = 197 students in 2016–17; n = 166 students in 2017–18) wherein students were assigned into four teams based upon their learning society membership. During gameplay, two students per team were randomly selected every 5 questions to represent their team. An additional modification to the gameplay included one 15‐second “lifeline”, which provided a crowd‐sourced answer option, for each round of questions. Comments from the end‐of‐course evaluation and an optional 5‐item, online survey for the 2017–18 cohort gauged student perceptions of Anatomy! Medical Jeopardy as a learning modality.ResultsAnatomy! Medical Jeopardy was first implemented in 2016–17. The end‐of‐course evaluation for 2016–17 indicated that the students found these sessions beneficial and helpful in understanding the material. Course evaluations for the 2017–18 cohort are not yet available, but out of 166 students, 84.9% of students responded to the optional online survey. Of the total respondents, 88% of students found Anatomy! Medical Jeopardy effective both in engaging students and in reviewing anatomical concepts. One common topic of the open responses was that Anatomy! Medical Jeopardy underscored lecture concepts, for both prior and current exam material. With regard to improvement of Anatomy! Medical Jeopardy, respondents suggested higher‐order questions using clinically oriented vignettes that mirror USMLE Step 1 format.ConclusionThese findings align with results from prior studies of quiz‐game based learning in medical school. Our students would recommend Anatomy! Medical Jeopardy as an engaging and active learning modality for enhancing retention of course material.Support or Funding InformationNot applicableThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.