Abstract:

Motivation could be considered a key factor for the student success in a high education context. However, there are activities that require a relatively long dedication time. Furthermore, some of these activities overlap in time during the undergraduate years. This causes the overstress of the student that causes demotivation which does not favor an adequate environment to develop the necessary skills. Often group activities, usually focused on project or problem based learning, require autonomous work by the student outside the classroom in order to timely advance the group prior to sharing with the group. However, this tasks are perceived by the students as mere homework losing the real aim of the activity. The exponential grow of the use of highly sophisticated innovative learning approaches by different lectures during the same course of Chemistry degree could overwhelm the students. Sometimes lecturers fall into thinking that their subject is unique, without considering that during the semester they cohabit with many other colleagues. In this context, dialogue between lecturers is essential. In addition, the design of short activities to improve soft skills that can be worked on in class can be a successful proposal. In the activity presented in this work, a task similar to a puzzle has been mixed with a role-playing game. The response of the students to this activity has been excellent, describing it as fun and attractive. In addition, the evaluation of the acquired knowledge stood out above those corresponding to contents taught by expository classes.

Keywords:

Physical Chemistry, High Education, Motivation, Soft Skills.