Educational card games for understanding gastrointestinal physiology.

In the last few years, there has been an emphasis on the development of creative educational materials that supplement the traditional lecture format. The new materials should engage students in interactive learning and enhance critical thinking, small group discussion, and problem-solving skills. To help students understand and apply basic science concepts in a challenging, interactive format, we developed two card games. Although the principles of the games can be adapted to many scientific disciplines, these specific games provide a unique opportunity to integrate, analyze, and interpret basic concepts of gastrointestinal (GI) physiology. Go GI and GI Rummy were developed to assist students in the understanding of GI physiology and were designed to function as a tool for learning lecture material. Both games were evaluated by medical, graduate, and high school students. Student evaluation of the educational material showed that the games were successful in promoting the learning of GI physiology and engaging students in the discussion of GI concepts. Through this new approach, the students' level of understanding and ability to apply and synthesize materials were enhanced.