Educational card games for understanding gastrointestinal physiology

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Physiology

Background:

• Traditional lectures often lack interactive elements crucial for developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• There is a growing need for innovative educational materials to supplement conventional teaching methods in science.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate interactive card games for learning gastrointestinal (GI) physiology.
• To enhance students' understanding, application, and synthesis of basic GI concepts through engaging gameplay.

Main Methods:

• Development of two card games, Go GI and GI Rummy, focused on core GI physiology principles.
• Evaluation of the games' educational effectiveness with medical, graduate, and high school students.

Main Results:

• Student feedback indicated the games successfully promoted learning of GI physiology.
• The card games effectively engaged students in discussing and analyzing GI concepts.
• Participants showed enhanced ability to understand, apply, and synthesize course material.

Conclusions:

• Interactive card games serve as effective tools for teaching complex physiological concepts.
• This innovative approach improves student engagement and learning outcomes in GI physiology.
• The game-based learning strategy can be adapted to various scientific disciplines.