title: Evaluation of an educational game for health sciences students.
abstract: An educational game was developed to promote student problem solving in the context of small group, problem-based learning (PBL). This study evaluated the game's effects on hypothesis and issue generation in PBL. Students in the Year III PBL course of a BScN program (N = 131) were stratified by program status and then randomly assigned to groups of 9 to 11 people per group. Half of the groups were randomly assigned to use the game (G); the remaining groups used the conventional method (CM) of generating issues and hypotheses. The G and CM groups crossed over for Term II. A Term I posttest demonstrated G groups had a higher proportion of accurate responses (85%) than CM groups (74%). A Term II posttest demonstrated no important differences between G and CM groups, suggesting the educational impact of the game persisted after students stopped using it. Strengths and limitations of the game as a learning aid also are addressed.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ingram
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ray
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Landeen
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Keane
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000379:methods*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018794:Problem-Based Learning / Q000379:methods*