Transformational magnetic play set as mind opener game in a Problem Based Learning workshop

BACKGROUND AND AIM Critical thinking and application are imperative skills for medical students as they learn to look for clinical features, interpret investigation, diagnose and treat patients. Many educational strategies exist to foster this process, one of which is Problem based learning (PBL). Though the concept of PBL looks lucid and uncomplicated, it requires understanding of the principles by faculties and students to make it more student oriented. We used a ‘Magnetic Building Set’ as a mind opener to orient the teaching faculty at RAK Medical and Health Sciences University (RAKMHSU) to the core concepts of PBL. The main aim of the workshop was to familiarize the faculty on various aspects of PBL especially the importance of identification of learning objectives; designing a problem on predesigned objectives and the relation of PBL to inquiry based learning. The study also depicts how a simple game can make the participants correlate with the principles behind PBL. METHODS A total of 17 new faculty members, some of them having previous exposure of teaching in a PBL curricula were included in the Medical Education orientation workshop on PBL. The faculty members were divided into groups and each group was given a magnetic building set, which consisted of metallic spheres and magnetic rods. Initially there were asked to make design of their choice using all the materials and later a second task was given asking them to make a specific structure. The game is then correlated to the key principles of PBL using a pre and post- game questionnaire. RESULTS After the game, the knowledge of the faculty regarding the concepts and efficient use of PBL increased dramatically. The post-game questionnaire showed all the faculty understood well about the concepts of PBL. CONCLUSION Various instructional strategies are employed in adult learning. Game based learning is one amongst them and the current study highlights how a simple game can be used as an innovative and effective approach to introduce the concepts of PBL.