Increased learning by using board game on muscular system physiology compared with guided study

The aim of this work is to describe the "Muscular System Game," created to assist in the teaching-learning process concerning the physiology of the muscular system, and to evaluate its effect on the learning of university students. Participating in this study were first-year undergraduate students of the pharmacy course (game group, n = 21, 5 men and 16 women, age 23.57 ± 4.92 yr) and the nursing course (control group, n = 22, 2 men and 20 women, age 22.90 ± 4.93 yr), who had the same level of preparation. After theoretical classes concerning the physiology of the muscular system, all students were instructed to study the topic. In the next week, the students of the game group performed the activity with the board game, and the students of the control group undertook a guided study activity, which contained a list of exercises with the same questions used in the game, to be answered by groups. In the week following these activities, all of the students answered evaluation questions about the topic. The scores obtained for the two groups in the evaluation were compared using Student's t-test for unpaired samples, considering a significance level of 0.05. The score obtained for the control group (5.78 ± 0.38) was significantly lower than the score for the game group (7.50 ± 0.47; P < 0.05). The results obtained indicating that the use of an educational board game about the physiology of muscle contraction resulted in significantly improved learning, compared with the use of guided study.