Abstract:

This paper presents the experience of the Petroleum-Gas University of Ploiești, Romania, within the Erasmus+ project ThinkGame, focusing on integrating gamification and creative thinking into a Moodle-based Learning Management System (LMS). The project addresses a key research gap: the need for formative assessment tools to support closed-loop teaching for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students from a systems engineering perspective. In this closed-loop teaching view, learner data are continuously collected, interpreted and used to adjust learning strategies, mirroring feedback loops in control systems. The project is coordinated by Dunarea de Jos University of Galati, Romania and as partners, there are Universita Ta Malta, Msida, Malta, Petroleum-Gas University of Ploiesti, Romania, Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Portugal and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.

In our case study, we designed a game-based learning path on the Moodle platform, placing the student at the centre of the learning process. The game structure was implemented through adaptive quizzes, lesson activities, wiki collaboration and other LMS tools, enabling dynamic adjustment of difficulty, pace and learning resources. Cooperation between ThinkGame partners supported the continuous adaptation and refinement of quiz questions, as well as the reuse of items aligned with common learning objectives, thereby strengthening the coherence and transferability of the assessment pool. Gamification elements such as levels, challenges and rewards were combined with creative thinking techniques that encouraged divergent idea generation, reflection and multiple solution paths. This configuration allowed formative assessment to be embedded in each step of the learning path, providing immediate feedback to students and actionable information to teachers. The results highlight the potential of such game-informed, creativity-oriented designs to operationalise closed-loop teaching in STEM education and point to the need for more systematic development and validation of dedicated formative assessment instruments in this context.

Keywords:

Gamification, creative thinking, formative assessment, closed-loop teaching, STEM education.