Serious game as oral histology learning strategy for undergraduate dental students; crossover randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background Oral histology is perceived by dental students as a challenging subject and often struggle to recognize the long-term relevance of understanding the cells and tissues at the microscopic level. Serious games have been reported to have a positive effect on student cognitive skills and learning motivation. However, there is still a limited amount of research supporting the effectiveness of serious games as a learning method in dentistry. The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of serious game of HistoRM as a complementary learning strategy for oral histology. Methods The study design was a crossover randomized controlled trial. A total of 74 first year dental students of Universitas Indonesia participated in the study and divided into 2 groups. Study intervention included HistoRM game for 3 days followed by a combination of HistoRM and script-based handouts for another 4 days. The groups represented different intervention sequences. Evaluation was performed using pre-test, post-test on day 3 and 7 and a questionnaire. Results The data showed significant improvement of student cognitive skills (p < 0.001) and it was influenced by the number of game missions completed. Students who completed the whole 15 missions have a higher day-7 post-tests scores (p = 0.03). Perception of dental students on HistoRM was positive in all domains tested, the learning content, games and learning experience domains. Immediate feedback given after each gameplay helped the students understand the subject matters. Conclusion Serious game of HistoRM effectively improved students’ understanding of oral histology learning outcome and provided more interesting learning experiences. This innovative learning can be recommended as a complementary learning strategy of oral histology for dental students.

The development of a serious game for laser applications in dentistry and the evaluation of dental students' satisfaction

“…In several studies, students have reported that gamification enhances their interest in the course subject, knowledge acquisition, and retention, emphasizing the most critical aspect of the lesson for review [ 20 ]. Similar to the current study, high levels of user satisfaction and perception were reported in other studies using game-based learning for learning orofacial spaces [ 9 ], oral histology [ 6 ], factual knowledge [ 21 ], and clinical communication [ 13 ]. Tantawi et al [ 22 ] reported that gamification significantly improved dental students' academic writing scores; however, their writing satisfaction and self-perceived improvement were modest.…”

“…Gamification incorporates game elements into non-game contexts to increase student motivation and engagement [ 5 ]. Game-based learning has a pedagogical purpose [ 6 ]. In dentistry, the use of online gamification platforms, such as Kahoot!®, has resulted in increased satisfaction among dental students in the teaching of microbiology, immunology, and histology concepts [ 3 , 7 ].…”

“…In dentistry, the use of online gamification platforms, such as Kahoot!®, has resulted in increased satisfaction among dental students in the teaching of microbiology, immunology, and histology concepts [ 3 , 7 ]. Game-based learning has been effective for various subjects in dentistry, including oral histology [ 6 ], orthodontics [ 8 ], learning orofacial spaces [ 9 ], oral lesions diagnosis and treatment planning [ 10 ], endodontics [ 11 ], oral rehabilitation of edentulous patients [ 12 ], clinical communication [ 13 ], teledentistry training [ 14 ], basic life support skills [ 15 ], and clinical reasoning skills [ 16 ], has shown a positive effect on students' motivation, self-perceived confidence, awareness, self-efficacy in learning, cognitive skills, knowledge. Digital gamification platforms engage students with different learning styles due to their easy accessibility and ability to integrate well with varied teaching methods while significantly increasing student participation and engagement in the classroom compared to traditional lecture-based teaching [ 17 ].…”