Abstract:

In the context of medical students at the Autonomous University of Yucatan, Mexico, the curriculum for the Bachelor's degree in Medical Surgery comprises three disciplinary areas: basic, intermediate, and advanced. The basic area encompasses fundamental knowledge that underpins the relationships between the structure and normal function of the human body at the molecular, cellular, tissue, organic, systemic, individual, family, psychological, and community levels across different life cycles. This knowledge is crucial for understanding and identifying determinants of the health-disease process in the population. The course "Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Biology," part of the basic disciplinary area, contributes to achieving the graduation competency known as "Conceptualization of the Human Being."

Unit 4 of this course aims to identify the most relevant histological details of various tissues and organs of the human body in normal conditions. Evaluation of this unit commonly involves a logbook, where students search for and copy images of human tissues and organs, and a performance test, where they must efficiently identify cellular, tissue, and organic structures through histological images. The teaching strategy employed in this unit focuses on developing and strengthening visual memory—the ability to remember previously presented images. Viewing an image provides sensory information temporarily stored in memory, which, through appropriate stimuli, can be transferred to short- and long-term memory. Hence, it is essential to use strategies facilitating the storage of images in long-term memory to achieve the required competence in this subject.

In this context, the development of software called Histolok has been proposed. Histolok combines the visual learning channel with the kinesthetic pathway. It is a web application where medical students can engage in quizzes featuring images and multimedia components to test their knowledge of the school subject "Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Biology." The software utilises a general score table that classifies students, encouraging them to develop learning more easily within a playful environment that motivates improvement. Teachers upload digital resources as well as related questions. Each question is assigned a level and a classification scheme that will be used by the quizzes generator.

Histolok offers various gaming modes: pre-designed exams presented as challenges for specific topics, customised exams on particular subjects with a predetermined training time, and a campaign mode where questions become more intricate as the game progresses. The system monitors students' activity in all instances, aiming to conduct a student diagnosis and suggest actions to enhance their knowledge in specific areas using learning analytics techniques. This serves to provide insights into students' progress and recommend strategies for improvement.

This approach enables students to undertake independent, individualised, and stimulating learning, ultimately enhancing their academic performance, particularly in performance tests requiring the use of visual memory, such as the identification of histological images. We believe that this software system not only facilitates learning but also serves as a serious game, incorporating recreational aspects that transform it into a valuable educational tool not only in the field of medicine but also extendable to reinforce learning in other areas of knowledge.

Keywords:

Serious gaming, medical education, visual memory, learning analytics.