Abstract:

Laboratory sessions are in general highly welcomed by students. However the comprehension of the concepts of this type of sessions is sometimes not maximum since an important part of the students do not prepare their classes in advance or are unable to rapidly assimilate the concepts illustrated in the small initial explanation. Additionally, a misunderstanding of the process to be developed can result in the performance of erroneous actions that can be potentially dangerous both for the student himself and for the rest of laboratory mates.

On the other hand, the application Kahoot! allows the generation of intuitive questionnaires that students can respond in real-time and receive a feedback in just seconds. Like in a contest, the faster correct response wins giving a high score to the student. This app is becoming more and more popular and it is no longer a surprise to students. Even so, it continues motivating them and contributes to create a fun context of healthy competition.

In the present experience, a study on the use of Kahoot! in the practical classes of the Nanodiagnostics and Nanotherapy subject of the interuniversity master's degree in Biomedical Engineering has been carried out. This gamification technique is proposed as a methodology to promote the preparation of the practices and their complete understanding before the experimental part of the session. Specifically, in each session, students received a brief explanation of the fundamental concepts related to the practice which is going to be conducted and then Kahoot! game was performed before the starting of the laboratory experiments.

In our study, the level of attention during the explanation and assimilation of concepts was much higher in the group in which Kahoot! was implemented than in the group in which this tool was not used. From our findings, it can be concluded that Kahoot! is a good gamification tool in the laboratory that helps to improve the attention of students and their active learning also during the practical laboratory sessions.

Keywords:

Nanotechnology, kahoot!, gamification, laboratory practices.