Gamification as a Strategy to Increase Student Engagement in Engineering Disciplines
Gamification, the use of game design elements in non-game contexts, is increasingly being used in education, particularly in engineering, to boost student motivation and engagement. This approach can address issues of low motivation and participation that are often found in traditional teaching methods. By incorporating game-like elements into the learning process, educators can create a more dynamic and interactive environment that can lead to enhanced learning outcomes.
Why Gamification Works
Gamification taps into the human desire for fun, challenge, and reward. It can transform mundane or routine activities into engaging experiences by:
Increasing motivation: Game elements can drive intrinsic motivation, encouraging students to actively participate in their learning.
Enhancing engagement: Gamification can make the learning process more interactive, encouraging students to become more involved and committed.
Promoting active learning: Gamification encourages active participation in the learning process by creating opportunities for students to learn by doing.
Improving critical thinking: Gamification can provide real-life scenarios that require students to make decisions and solve problems, thus improving their critical thinking skills.
Providing immediate: feedback: Electronic gamification can give students and instructors instant feedback, fostering a more dynamic learning environment.
Design
Metacognition: Gamification, pushes students to think about
their own thinking and organize the material they are learning, which enhances their understanding.
Motivation and Participation: Gamification is effective in
motivating students and increasing their participation in learning activities.
Positive Emotional Responses: Gamification can generate
positive emotions like interest and motivation, making learning more enjoyable.
Immediate Feedback: Electronic gamification can provide an
instantaneous feedback loop, allowing students and instructors to exchange
comments on work in progress.. Feedback helps students adjust their learning
and correct mistakes.
Collaboration and Teamwork: Many gamified approaches
emphasize collaboration and teamwork, fostering social interaction and a
supportive learning environment. Students value the group work modality and the opportunities it provides for interaction and mutual support.
Sense of Accomplishment: Game elements like points, badges,
and leaderboards provide a sense of achievement and progress, encouraging students to stay engaged.
Leveling Up Engineering Education
IDEAL Forensic Biomechanics Project
The Interactive Digital Experience as an Alternative Lab (IDEAL) forensic biomechanics project is a gamified approach to learning biomechanics, designed to simulate real-world scenarios. It uses a fictional storyline and characters to engage students in a forensic investigation, where they must analyze evidence to determine the mechanism of injury and the person at fault. The project has been implemented in phases at Michigan State University (MSU), with each phase building on the previous one to enhance student engagement and learning.
The IDEAL framework has shown to improve student learning through increased engagement. The gamified structure of the IDEAL project encourages students’ creative participation. Students who are more engaged with the challenge problem tend to perform better. A progressive effort was made to improve student engagement and learning outcomes in a biomechanics course through gamification and student-led inquiry. The data from the three phases of this study suggest that the gamified structure, the student-led investigation, and the interactive components of the IDEAL project are all key to its success.