Comparison of Impact of Topic Organization, Spacing, and Complexity Design on Learning, Engagement, and Preference for Medical Student Pharmacology Trivia Games
Authors: Do Vananh , Cowan Melissa , Gorman Laurel 
Published: June 2021

While several studies suggest that medical students value educational games for active learning, few studies address ideal designs to maximize learning or utilization. A previous study showed that medical students preferred the recognition‐recall style of Trivia over Jeopardy pharmacology games. The aim of this study was to compare perceptions and learning from 2 different Trivia games employing different topic presentation, complexity, and interspersed versus categorical spacing to determine which design promotes better engagement, utilization, and learning. Educational research suggests that differential spacing with interspersed complexity supports better learning for psychology topics so our goal was to determine if these findings translate to medical pharmacology games. Fifty‐two UCF College of Medicine students in the second (M2) or third (M3) year volunteered to play 2 electronic games and take a survey and post‐game assessment. Each Trivia‐style multiple choice game contained clinical vignettes, feedback, avatars, humor, and reminders of clinical relevance. Game 1 (G1), organized categorically with cardiovascular, autonomic, and pulmonary topics, employed progression from simple to complex. Game 2 (G2) contained mixed topics of variable complexity interspersed throughout the game. After completing G2, students completed a post‐game pharmacology assessment (N=16 questions) and a survey on engagement, design, and perceptions of utilization using a 1–5 Likert scale (1= strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree).

Playing either style Trivia game increased learning as students scored significantly higher on post‐game quiz items tagged to games versus items covered previously but not in games (G1/G2‐ tagged item mean (74%) vs non‐game tagged item mean (49%); significance by t‐test, p<0.05). Survey data revealed that students valued these games highly with most agreeing that they were effective for increasing pharmacology retention (86%), promoting active learning (88%), and integrating pharmacology across time (94%). While several students valued the differently styled games equally, many perceived G2 to be more clinically relevant, less predictable (68%), and better designed to maximize learning (61%). Students indicated that both games were useful for reviewing content, providing retrieval‐based practice, and increasing engagement/decreasing stress associated with studying pharmacology. In conclusion, this study supports that medical students value either style Trivia pharmacology game highly for promoting integration and active learning. While both game designs promoted learning in this study, our data support that the interspersed topic/complexity design may be valued by students for providing less predictable, more clinically relevant topic presentation. Given educational literature suggests this design promotes better retention for other subjects, we conclude that medical game designs using the interspersed topic/complexity template may be valued and effective in promoting engaging pharmacology learning for healthcare students.

Support or Funding Information

UCF COM medical student research stipend

This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.