Intelligent Game‐Based Mobile Learning for Contemporary Anatomy Education

Abstract

We are building a prototype of an intelligent textbook which is game-based and designed for mobile platforms. Our intelligent textbook, Cardiovascular and Respiratory Anatomy Map (CRAM), includes the basic material on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems as well as interactive methods to scaffold the learner's acquisition of higher-level cognitive skills. The platform is underpinned by hierarchical causal concept maps, diagrams which make explicit the causal and hierarchical relationships between the processes of the biological systems. This architecture provides three clusters of benefits. Gamification itself has the potential to increase not only time-on-task but quality of engagement, while the introduction of concepts at the scale of minigames, smaller or simpler games incorporated within a larger framework, maintains novelty by chunking the material. Next, mobile platforms enjoy wide availability and student acceptance while providing opportunities for increasingly multimodal content, including rich, tactile input. Finally, utilizing hierarchical causal concept maps ensures novel content for the student and combats well-known issues such as shallow learning. Students are invited to explore the interaction between the cardiovascular and respiratory systems through short animations with narrative structures centered around key concepts. Breaking up this presentation of information are minigames which provide tasks related to the scenarios. Following the completion of a game, animations reinforce the chain of events within the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. For example, the learner is prompted with the following scenario: “Mr. B has an arrhythmia with an irregular heart rate.” Instructions are shown on how to engage with the minigame, in this case, “Tap the heart on the beat.” A heart appears in the center of the screen followed by a line from an electrocardiogram which approaches the heart from the left. The QRS complex occurs in the center of the heart. The learner taps the heart as this occurs. The line then exits from the right side of the heart and reappears on the left. The loop continues until the learner correctly taps the heart a specified number of times. A congratulatory message appears indicating that “Mr. B is feeling better,” and an animation plays depicting cardiac output returning to normal, proper blood circulation in the lungs resuming, and the arterial system fulfilling the oxygen demand requirement of the body. Human gross anatomy students face domain-specific but generational challenges. Cell phone usage among young people has been found to correlate positively with inattention and negatively with academic achievement. Similar to variable ratio reinforcement schedules in gambling, internet-based technology provides easy rewards with little effort. In comparison, academic activities like reading and lecture appear increasingly unattractive and cognitively strenuous. CRAM attempts to address these challenges.