Using interactive flash games to enhance students' learning in animal sciences.

摘要

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate how the use of interactive flash games in three animal science courses enhances student learning and comprehension of complex concepts and difficult new material and improves test scores. Flash games were used as companion tools to Feeds and Feeding, Applied Animal Nutrition and Animal Reproduction courses taught at the University of Minnesota, Crookston. The template for flash games was the same for all courses. In two studies, student learning and comprehension of course material were tested. The first study used student final exam scores from the three courses to compare the efficacy of flash games in improving students' test scores with that of commonly used study guides. The exam format for all students was a "mixed exam" containing multiple choice and essay questions. The second study used two courses and two test formats: the -mixed format- as in the first study and an "all multiple choice exam." Scores from two midterms and one final exam were used in this study. In both studies, flash games and study guides covered the same learning material. Exam scores and student surveys clearly supported flash games as an effective technology in improving student comprehension and enhancing learning. In study 1, for all three courses, students' exam scores using flash games were improved by an average of 16.0+or-2.64 points over study guides. More than 90% of students indicated flash game-assisted instruction contributed to better learning. In study 2, for the two courses, flash games showed an improvement of student test scores by 23.7+or-1.07 points over the study guides.