The Effect of the Game Anatomania on Achievement of Nursing Students

Abstract

The problem. The purpose of this study was to determine if learning through games can effect learning outcomes. A convenience sample of two groups of students was utilized. There were 35 nursing students in the experimental group and 25 nursing students in the control group. Procedure. A game, ANATOMANIA, developed by the researcher, was used in conjunction with classroom lecture and laboratory experiences with the experimental group. The control group utilized classroom lecture and laboratory experiences with no use of the game ANATOMANIA. A pretest-posttest examination, written by the investigator, was used as the data collection tool. Findings. A "t" test was used to determine if there was any statistical differences in pretest score means between the experimental and control groups (t=6.3765; p=0.000). Data analysis demonstrated that the experimental group had significantly higher pretest scores than the control group. A "t" test was then done to compare the differences in posttest-pretest scores of the groups. This analysls demonstrated that the experimental and control groups did not differ significantly with respect to posttest-pretest scores (t=1.2151; p=0.2293). Conclusions. This study suggests that the use of the game ANATOMANIA did not significantly effect learning achievement in an anatomy and physiology course for nurses. Recommendations. Expansion and replicatlon of this study in another setting is recommended. Another recommendatlon would be to construct a tool to measure the results in the affective domain.