Year: 2026 | Month: July-September | Volume: 11 | Issue: 3 | Pages: 151-159
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijshr.20260318
An Educator’s Experience with Gamification as a Teaching Learning Strategy in Physiology
Preetha Paul1, Ilham Jaleel2
1Professor and Head, Department of Physiology, Panimalar Medical College Hospital & Research Institute, Varadarajapuram, Poonamalee, Chennai - 600123, India.
2Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, Panimalar Medical College Hospital & Research Institute, Varadarajapuram, Poonamalee, Chennai - 600123, India.
Corresponding Author: Dr. Ilham Jaleel
ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Background: Gamification, the use of game-design elements in non-game educational contexts, has been increasingly adopted to sustain engagement among today’s learners. Evidence on its effect on short-term knowledge gain and learner perception in undergraduate physiology teaching from single-institution settings remains limited.
Objective: To implement a Dumb Charades-based gamified learning activity for teaching neurophysiology to first-year MBBS students and to evaluate its association with short-term knowledge scores and student/faculty perceptions.
Methods: This was a single-centre, single-group, pre-test–post-test educational intervention study conducted in the Department of Physiology, Panimalar Medical College Hospital & Research Institute, Chennai, among first-year MBBS students. All 150 students of the cohort were included by universal (total population) sampling; no separate sample-size calculation was performed. A ten-item pre-test and an equivalent post-test on Neurophysiology were administered immediately before and after a structured Dumb Charades activity. Student (19-item) and faculty (20-item) feedback questionnaires, developed by the investigators and rated on a 3-point Likert-type scale, assessed perceptions across learning experience, team dynamics and game mechanism domains. Pre- and post-test scores were compared using the paired t-test; feedback data were summarised as frequencies and percentages.
Results: Of 150 students, 123 (82.0%) completed both tests. The mean post-test score (6.28 ± 1.79) was significantly higher than the mean pre-test score (5.43 ± 1.66), a mean improvement of 0.85 (paired t-test, p<0.001). Feedback was obtained from 111 of 128 attendees (86.7%) and all 12 faculty present. Most students rated the activity innovative and enjoyable (90.2%), academically useful (80.2%), and wanted it incorporated regularly into the curriculum (95.5%); faculty feedback was uniformly positive on organisation and student engagement.
Conclusion: A single Dumb Charades-based gamification activity was associated with a statistically significant short-term improvement in neurophysiology test scores and was very positively received by students and faculty at this institution. In the absence of a control group, these findings support gamification as a feasible, well-accepted adjunct teaching strategy at this centre rather than as confirmed evidence of superiority over conventional teaching or of durable learning gains.
Keywords: Gamification; Medical education; Physiology; Dumb charades; Student engagement; Pre-test–post-test study.