Perception of Scientific Writing and Gamification in Engineering Students: A Mixed Study

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to analyze engineering students' perceptions of scientific writing and gamification. A semi-structured questionnaire with five open-ended questions on scientific writing and gamification was applied to 400 engineering students at a Peruvian university. The methodological design was mixed. For the quantitative analysis, a frequency analysis of the students' responses was performed. For the qualitative analysis, Atlas ti software was used. The main results from the quantitative approach indicate that the predominant conception of scientific writing in students is related to research and publication of results, 135 (33.75%); likewise, the essay was indicated as the most recurrent textual genre with 147 (36.75%); and the most frequent difficulty in writing was the search and verification of information with 96 (24%). From the qualitative approach, it was found that students emphasize not only the academic aspect in relation to the importance of scientific writing, but also the process of knowledge, research, science and technology. Likewise, regarding the evaluation given by the students to the use of gamification in the teaching of scientific writing, mostly positive evaluative judgments were found. It is concluded that gamification is perceived as a motivating and innovative strategy for teaching scientific writing to engineering students.