A Bingo Game Motivates Students to Interact with Course Material

Abstract

Objectives. To create a bingo game that would increase student interaction with course material and provide students with options for demonstrating learning and earning extra credit. Design. A bingo game was created in which each of the 25 squares contained an activity (eg, video, crossword puzzle, poem, quiz) that encouraged interaction with course material and appealed to multiple learning styles. Students who achieved bingo earned a 5-point (5%) grade bonus. Assessment. All students enrolled in the Introduction to Clinical Pharmacy Skills course participated in the bingo game. The majority of students (74.6% in the fall and 81.9% in the spring) achieved bingo. Students who achieved bingo had an average course grade 7 points (fall semester) and 10 points (spring semester) higher than the average course grade from the prior 6 semesters. Conclusion. The bingo game increased student interaction with course material throughout the semester and provided students with options for demonstrating learning.

Educational Games as a Teaching Tool in Pharmacy Curriculum

“…55,58 Five studies involved rewards to motivate students. 36,40,42,43,47 Two studies reported rewarding students by adding extra marks to their grades, while one study included candy prizes for winning teams. 43,47 Instead of giving the winning team a reward, Roche et al asked the winning team to select a health-related charity to which a faculty member would donate if that team won.…”

“…The common shortcomings shared by different games include the time spent by students learning the game and the extensive time invested by faculty members in game development. 36,37,41,45,47 Once prepared, however, the game material can be reused with minimal time commitment. 45 The cost of purchasing the game supplies was one of the key hindrances reported in the geriatrics-related games.…”

“…46 To increase students' interaction with course material, Tietze developed an extra-credit bingo game with different educational activities that helped students review course material. 47 Further, Persky et al presented 3 different games, PK Poker, Pharmacy Scene Investigation (PSI), and Clue Game to promote students' learning in pharmacokinetics. 48 Students found these games to be valuable as supplementary learning tools rather than replacements for traditional lectures.…”

“…17 Even though a large number of studies have investigated using different active-learning approaches such as team-based learning, [18][19][20][21][22][23] case-based learning, [24][25][26][27] problem-based learning, [28][29][30][31] and simulations in pharmacy schools, [32][33][34][35] fewer studies have examined the usefulness of games in that context. [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48] Additionally, there is no review to date that summarizes and validates the positive outcomes associated with educational games used in pharmacy schools.…”

Educational Card Games to Teach Pharmacotherapeutics in an Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience

“…[4][5][6] The majority of studies describing educational health care games show students enjoy playing them. [7][8][9][10] Unfortunately most of these studies do not evaluate student learning or the efficacy of the games. A Cochrane Review evaluated all published articles on health care-based educational games in which the participants were health care professionals or in postgraduate training identified 1156 papers, but only 1 was a randomized control trial.…”