Iranian Journal of Medical Education

fa طراحی، اجرا و ارزشیابی ادغام بازی مار و پله با درس فارماکولوژی بیهوشی Designing, Implementing, and Evaluating a Snakes and Ladders Game for an Anesthesia Pharmacology Course شيوه هاي آموزش Teaching Methods پژوهشی اصیل Original research article مقدمه: آموزش فارماکولوژی بیهوشی به‌دلیل پیچیدگی مفاهیم دارویی و حساسیت بالینی نیازمند رویکردهای نوآورانه است. استفاده از روش‌های سنتی مانند سخنرانی به‌تنهایی نمی‌تواند مهارت‌های کاربردی دانشجویان را تقویت کند. با توجه به اهمیت یادسپاری مؤثر محتوا، این مطالعه با هدف طراحی، اجرا و ارزشیابی یک نسخه ویژه از بازی مار و پله، برای آموزش فارماکولوژی بیهوشی انجام شد. روش‌ها: این پژوهش یک مطالعه مداخله آموزشی از نوع تک گروهی بود که در سال ۱۴۰۴ بر روی 35 دانشجوی هوشبری دانشگاه علوم پزشکی آبادان انجام شد. مطالعه در چهار گام اجرا گردید: آماده‌سازی و آموزش اولیه محتوا، معرفی قوانین و ایجاد انگیزه، اجرای بازی در قالب یادگیری گروهی و ارزشیابی پایانی. بازی طراحی‌شده دارای ۱۰۰ خانه شامل سؤالات و اقدامات عملی مرتبط با فارماکولوژی بود. ادراک دانشجویان از محیط آموزشی با استفاده از پرسشنامه استاندارد دریمDundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM) سنجیده و داده‌ها با نرم‌افزار SPSS نسخه 25، آمار توصیفی و آزمون t مستقل تحلیل شد. نتایج: میانگین نمره کل پرسشنامه DREEM برابر با 14±2/137 به‌‌دست آمد که نشان‌دهنده «محیط آموزشی مطلوب» بود. نمره زیرمقیاس‌ها شامل ادراک از یادگیری 9/3±2/31، ادراک از اساتید 8/2±7/28، جو آموزشی 4/3±3/30 و توانایی علمی 5/2±8/26 همگی در محدوده مطلوب قرار داشتند. در میان شرکت‌کنندگان، تفاوت معناداری بین دو دوره تحصیلی (54/0=P) و همچنین بین زنان و مردان (78/0=P) مشاهده نشد. نتیجه‌گیری: طراحی و اجرای بازی مار و پله در آموزش درس فارماکولوژی بیهوشی توانست، ادراک دانشجویان را از محیط آموزشی بیهوشی بهبود بخشد. نتایج نشان می‌دهد این رویکرد با وجود سادگی، نتایج امیدوارکننده در بهبود ادراک محیط آموزشی دارد و می‌تواند در سایر دروس علوم پزشکی نیز به‌کار گرفته شود. پیشنهاد می‌گردد مطالعات آینده با نمونه‌های کنترل‌شده برای بررسی اثرات طولانی‌مدت انجام پذیرد. Introduction: Teaching pharmacology in anesthesia education is challenging because students need to understand complex pharmacological concepts and apply them accurately in clinical practice. Conventional lecture-based instruction may offer limited opportunities for active participation, critical thinking, and sustained knowledge retention. This way, student-centered approaches have received increasing attention in medical education. Among these approaches, game-based learning has emerged as a promising strategy for enhancing motivation, engagement, collaboration, and meaningful learning. Educational games can provide immediate feedback and promote active participation, making learning more engaging while reinforcing both theoretical knowledge and its clinical application. Although game-based learning has demonstrated beneficial outcomes across various medical disciplines, evidence regarding the use of Snakes and Ladders as an educational tool in anesthesia pharmacology remains limited. Therefore, this study endeavored to design, implement, and evaluate a customized Snakes and Ladders game integrated into an anesthesia pharmacology course and to examine students’ perceptions of the educational environment. Methods: This quantitative educational intervention was conducted in 2025 using a single group design among undergraduate anesthesia students at Abadan University of Medical Sciences. Thirty-five students in the eighth and ninth academic semesters participated in the study. The intervention was implemented in four stages. First, students received preparatory educational materials and a brief review of essential pharmacological concepts. The rules and procedures of the educational game were then explained, and students were divided into five collaborative groups. A customized 100 square Snakes and Ladders board was developed, with each square containing educational activities, including multiple choice pharmacology questions, clinical scenarios, practical anesthesia related tasks, bonus and penalty activities, and forward or backward movements. The game was collaboratively developed by anesthesia faculty members, anesthesiologists, clinical instructors, and medical education specialists. The educational tasks increased progressively in difficulty across four stages, requiring students to demonstrate both theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Following the intervention, students’ perceptions of the educational environment were assessed using the validated Persian version of the Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM), which evaluates perceptions of learning, teachers, academic self-perception, educational atmosphere, and social self-perception. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and independent samples t tests. Results: Thirty-five students completed the study. The mean age was 21.8 ± 1.2 years, and 80% of participants were female. The mean overall DREEM score was 137.2 ± 14.0, indicating a more positive than negative educational environment. Positive perceptions were observed across all five DREEM domains: perception of learning (31.2 ± 3.9), perception of teachers (28.7 ± 2.8), academic self-perception (26.8 ± 2.5), educational atmosphere (30.3 ± 3.4), and social self-perception (20.2 ± 1.4). No statistically significant differences were found in DREEM scores by academic semester (p = .54) or sex (p = .78). Qualitative feedback was consistent with these findings, with most students reporting increased motivation, classroom participation, teamwork, and concentration, as well as improved retention of pharmacological concepts. The integration of theoretical questions with practical anesthesia related activities was identified as a particularly valuable feature of the intervention. Some students recommended allowing additional time to address more challenging questions in future implementations. Conclusion: The findings suggest that integrating a customized Snakes and Ladders game into anesthesia pharmacology education was associated with positive perceptions of the learning environment. The favorable DREEM scores indicate that students viewed learning, interactions with instructors, academic self-perception, and the educational atmosphere positively. These findings are consistent with previous research suggesting that game-based learning can promote motivation, active participation, collaboration, and knowledge retention in health professions education. Unlike conventional board games, the present intervention integrated pharmacological knowledge with authentic clinical tasks, enabling students to reinforce theoretical concepts while engaging with essential anesthesia related skills in an interactive setting. The absence of statistically significant differences in DREEM scores by sex or academic semester suggests that students across these subgroups reported similar perceptions of the educational environment. Several limitations warrant consideration. The single group design, relatively small sample size, and absence of a control group limit causal inference. Moreover, the DREEM measures students’ perceptions rather than objective learning outcomes or clinical competence. Future research could employ larger multicenter samples, controlled study designs, and objective measures of knowledge retention and clinical performance to further examine the educational effectiveness and longer-term impact of this approach. In conclusion, a customized Snakes and Ladders game offers a simple, low cost, and potentially useful strategy for creating an engaging learning environment in anesthesia pharmacology education. By combining theoretical content with practical clinical tasks, this approach may complement conventional teaching methods and could be adapted to other medical science courses that require the integration of theoretical knowledge and practical application.   داروشناسی, بیهوشی, ارزشیابی آموزشی, یادگیری مبتنی بر بازی, دانشجویان Pharmacology, Anesthesiology, Educational Measurement, Game-Based Learning, Students 123 133 http://ijme.mui.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-5863-1&slc_lang=fa&sid=1 Erfan Joudaki Rad عرفان جودکی راد shaefijr44@gmail.com 7000319475328460097449 8130-1542-0003-0009 Yes Department of Anesthesiology, School of Nursing, Abadan University of Medical Sciences, Abadan, Iran. گروه بیهوشی، دانشکده پرستاری، دانشگاه علوم پزشکی آبادان، آبادان، ایران. Maede Kordnejad مائده کردنژاد kurdnejadmaede@gmail.com 7000319475328460097450 6731-5557-0002-0000 No Department of Anesthesiology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. گروه بیهوشی، دانشکده پزشکی، دانشگاه علوم پزشکی اصفهان، اصفهان، ایران. Reza Taghvaei رضا تقوائی rezataghvaei75@gmail.com 7000319475328460097451 7039-5168-0002-0000 No Department of Anesthesiology, School of Paramedical Sciences, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran. گروه بیهوشی، دانشکده پیراپزشکی، دانشگاه علوم پزشکی قزوین، قزوین، ایران. Mobina Boroon مبینا برون Laminaahvaz@gmail.com 7000319475328460097452 4151-4221-0001-0009 No Research Committee, School of Nursing, Abadan University of Medical Sciences, Abadan, Iran. دانشکده پرستاری، دانشگاه علوم پزشکی آبادان، آبادان، ایران.