Zenaida Alzaga
With the aim of contributing to the improvement of teaching-learning processes, experts from the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) have designed software to enhance students' knowledge acquired in classrooms through video games.
During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, teaching at all educational levels was conducted virtually, negatively impacting students who, upon returning to face-to-face classes, showed little interest in their subjects, absenteeism, academic dropout, low academic performance, or passive attitudes, among others.
The post-pandemic period brought about changes in didactic and pedagogical methods in teaching-learning processes, where teachers applied neurodidactic techniques to motivate students in a climate of tranquility and certainty.
Therefore, the group of specialists led by Dr. Adolfo Guzmán Arenas from the Centro de Investigación en Computación (CIC); M.Sc. Jorge Viera Haro and Dr. Guillermo Rafael Domínguez de León, both from the Unidad Profesional Interdisciplinaria de Ingeniería y Ciencias Sociales y Administrativas (UPIICSA), developed the project "Use of Gamification as a Neurodidactic Strategy."
Gamification is a learning technique that uses game mechanics (video games) to achieve better results in knowledge acquisition in classrooms, where participants must follow rules and face challenges. This motivates the user to continue and start as many times as necessary until completion.
In this regard, the experts pointed out that given the consequences brought by the pandemic on students, at UPIICSA, they sought new neurodidactic strategies for teaching-learning processes with gamification. They utilized elements from video games to facilitate cohesion, integration, motivation, and interest in the content to enhance the creativity of Polytechnic students in Computer Science and Computer Engineering programs offered at this academic unit.
To carry out the project, they used open-source software to develop a Qbitts quiz (adapted from a CodingNepal application) compatible with any operating system on mobile phones, tablets, laptops, or desktop computers.
The quiz application was implemented in the design of the front-end of a website, from its structure to the styles (colors, backgrounds, element sizes, animations, and effects), in a simple way for proper understanding and operation.
They designed a strategy with logical procedures for knowledge search and construction, motivating students to carry out extracurricular activities to earn additional points in their final grade under the premise of successfully completing the quiz. The quiz comprised 25 questions with five possible answers from a pool of 150 items, where only one is correct regarding the history and evolution of computers. The goal was to obtain 20 correct answers out of 25 items with an unlimited number of attempts over one week.
Polytechnic students had only 15 seconds to complete the challenge; after the time elapsed, if no possible answer was selected, the system recorded it as incorrect. During the video game, they had the opportunity to adjust and adapt to it based on the mental strategies they decided to apply, as there was no limit to the number of attempts they made.
The professors applied the quiz to 88 UPIICSA students from both careers who accepted the challenge, and only 68 successfully completed it.
At the end of the exercise, the students considered the activity interesting and fun because it tested their short and long-term memory, allowing them to increase their knowledge of computer history in a playful manner.
They also sparked their curiosity to learn more about these topics, developed their skills, and reinforced their self-esteem and value within the community.
Therefore, the researchers considered that gamification is a good option that can be applied to reinforce teaching-learning processes since young people nowadays spend most of their time on their cell phones.
Gamification is a learning technique that uses game mechanics to achieve better results in the acquisition of knowledge in the classroom.
Selección Gaceta Politécnica #170. (January 31st, 2024). IPN Imagen Institucional: Read the full magazine in Spanish here.
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