Abstract:

More than 250 students from three different subjects (Fundamentals of Bromatology; Descriptive Bromatology; Science and Analysis of Drinking water and Beverages) from two Degrees (Human Nutrition and Dietetics; Food Science and Technology) have participated in the educational innovation project entitled “Trivializing with Food” granted by Universidad Complutense de Madrid during the course 2016-2017. The activity was offered as a seminar and the rules explained to the students and posted in the virtual campus. The students had to choose their partners to form work groups. The work groups designed the questions for the game and the teachers revised them. The relation between the participation in the activity and final mark obtained in the subject gave good results, ranged between 86-94% those students that improved their final marks through the participation in the proposed activity. Moreover, the students valued positively the activity on the Likert survey carried out. They replied with a high score (4/5) to the questions: "It was useful to improve the subject understanding”, "It was useful to establish basic concepts", and "It was useful to prepare the final exam". These results show that students have perceived the activity as an opportunity to learn and prepare their exams. Thus, emphasize the usefulness of the proposed activity and the advantages of its realization for their final marks. This activity gamification results in an effective learning for University students.

Keywords:

Gamification, food, effective learning, active participation.