Effect of an Anatomy‐Based Drawing Game on Learning and Satisfaction in First‐Year Medical Students
Authors: Laughton Sienna R. , Gothard M. David , Rhodes Diana C.J. 
Published: April 2020

Individually, drawing and games have been shown to increase mastery of anatomical concepts; however, the effects of combining these modalities is uncertain.

The goals of this study were to investigate the ability of a simple drawing game to increase medical students’ knowledge of anatomical concepts, and to investigate the effect of the game on student enjoyment, confidence, and stress.

Subjects were recruited from first‐year osteopathic medical students enrolled in a gross anatomy course at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences (PNWU). Participants were divided randomly into a “game” group (n=32) who took a pre‐game quiz, played a drawing game, and took a post‐game quiz and a “quiz only” group (n=8) who took the same quizzes, but did not play the game. Subjects in the “game” group also were queried on confidence and stress levels before and after the activity. All topics on the quizzes and for the drawing game were related to lower limb concepts. Data were analyzed using SPSSv25.0 software with p<0.05 via two‐sided testing considered statistically significant. This study was determined to be exempt by the PNWU IRB (#2019‐022).

Initial analyses consisted of comparing three groups: “quiz only”, “game”, and “non‐participants” (n=107). The absence of a significant difference between groups on the scores for the written exam for the previous unit (upper limb) indicated that the groups were of similar academic ability. Results on the lower limb written exam, which was administered the day after the game, showed that “non‐participants” scored higher than the “game” group on the exam overall and on exam items identified as being directly related to the drawing activity. However, the difference between each individual’s performance on the related vs. unrelated exam questions was significantly greater for both of the experimental groups compared to the “non‐participant” group. Comparing the “quiz only” and “game” groups’ quiz scores, there was no difference in their pre‐game quiz scores, but the “quiz only” group performed better on the post‐game quiz. Satisfaction with the game experience was high, with 100% of participants reporting that they enjoyed playing. When asked what they liked most about the game, 47% wrote free‐response answers indicating that they liked collaborating with their classmates, 32% said it was a good way to learn, and 21% said they liked the competition. While there was no significant change between student confidence ratings before or after playing the game, their reported stress levels were significantly lower during and after the game, compared to their stress levels prior to the game.

Overall, students who participated in the drawing game performed better on the examination questions related to the structures drawn during the game compared to how they performed on the rest of the examination. However, this also was observed in students who only took the quizzes, suggesting that participants may have benefited by knowledge gained while taking the quiz. Results of this study suggest that anatomy‐based drawing games are enjoyable, stress‐reducing, and accessible to all first‐year medical students.