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Rationale/Background: Students enrolled in undergraduate EBP/scholarly inquiry courses, which can be writing intensive, are often inundated with a new language and complex concepts, many of which are difficult to understand. Teaching different concepts related to research, writing, and grammar becomes problematic when the goal is simply to have students memorize information by using PowerPoint rather than to have students actively involved in the content. However, faculty teaching these courses often has the opportunity to be creative and innovative in presentations that can also assist students retain information more easily than if using only traditional didactic means.
Description: To help students learn and retain concepts related to EBP/scholarly inquiry concepts faculty have devised and created several interactive activities and games for the classroom. One such activity asks students to choose “samples” from “populations” of ordinary household items. Other activities require creating representations of research designs using a white board and magic markers and then asking classmates to guess the design, or using popular/common games such as jeopardy to challenge students’ understanding and application of concepts. Since the course also is charged with teaching writing and grammar concepts, activities related to this content include “chasing” to find information in the American Psychological Association (APA) publication manual or using worksheets and examples of reference pages in which students find APA errors.
Outcomes Achieved/Conclusions: Students were enthusiastic about interactive games and activities. In fact, student feedback ranked the interactive segments of class as being a favorite. Indeed, games and activities are thought to enrich learning, provide opportunities for reticent students to present content, and enhance engagement.