Gamification as an educational strategy in life sciences

José M. García-Fernández, Raúl González-Ojeda, Antonio López-Lozano, Maria del Carmen Muñoz‐Marín, Carmen Alicia Padilla-Peña, Raquel Requejo-Aguilar

In recent years, educational methodologies have undergone a significant transformation. Strategies such as e-learning, project-based learning and the flipped classroom have been implemented, while more traditional approaches have lost their effectiveness and ability to motivate students. In this context, gamification has emerged as a complementary approach to conventional strategies and is increasingly being adopted in higher education, providing a motivating element that leads to meaningful learning in contrast to the traditional lecture. In this study, we used various gamification tools in undergraduate and master's courses in Life Sciences, analysing their effectiveness in increasing student interest as well as the acquisition of skills in each subject through various assessment tools. The results show that students have found these teaching tools very positive and that they were more engaged, cooperative and participatory than with traditional methods. Therefore, this study suggests that gamification can increase interest and learning at the university level.