O uso da gamificação em abordagens de e-learning para o ensino da Medicina Dentária - Um caso de uso na Ortodontia

Abstract

Despite technology being present in different aspects of our society and noticing its increasing adoption in education, teachers and students had to face several challenges in the forced adoption of distance learning, which was imposed because of the pandemic state of COVID-19. Thus, some strategies had to be used to minimize the growing lack of interest and engagement in virtual rooms. For this, gamification, conceptualized as the use and application of game features in real situations, is recognized as a methodology capable of improving student motivation in the classroom, having a great potential to also be applied during online classes. Based on this, this study aims to propose a gamification approach for teaching dentistry. The game itself was set up based on "escape rooms" mechanics, where students were divided into groups and solving puzzles based on an orthodontic context. To carry out this work, an approach to teaching orthodontics using escape room mechanics was designed. The module was implemented and tested with fourth year students at FMDUP. To demonstrate its effects on the students' learning process and analyze their behavior and performance during the activity, a sample of 19 students was inserted in a virtual escape room developed on the Moodle platform. The students answered a sociodemographic survey to determine and analyze their gaming experience, which revealed that the participants did not have much experience with games, in addition to not spending a lot of time playing, thus preferring more casual games, such as games for mobile phones. To quantify the knowledge acquired during the activity, two equal knowledge tests were applied before and after the game. Analyzing the results of the satisfaction survey applied after the activity, a general satisfaction with the use of gamification was noted, confirming what is found in the bibliography. However, there was no significant difference between the averages of students in the applied knowledge tests, demonstrating that there was no relevant acquisition of knowledge. In conclusion, the study showed that a gamified approach is well received by students and can contribute to students' motivation and engagement during classes, helping them to develop not only practical skills, but also teamwork and problem solving.