Virginia Via Research Day Book 2026

Medical Student Research Education and Simulation

07 “Erb's Challenge: The Impact of a Board-Game Style Gamification Tool on Anatomical Knowledge and Clinical Reasoning”

Evelyn Schendler, OMS-II; Tiffany Carpenetti, PhD Corresponding author: eschendler@vt.vcom.edu

VCOM-Virginia, Blacksburg, Virginia

Board games have been a common family night gathering for years, but more importantly, games are the original vehicles for education from an early age. The increasing use of board games in education has helped improve learning outcomes, cognitive development, educational confidence, and academic achievement, particularly for students who struggle with conventional instruction. By incorporating board games, educators and students can fill knowledge gaps, build collaborative skills with peers, and enhance the learning experience. Objectives and/or Hypothesis: Research question: Does the use of hands-on, gamified learning strategies enhance comprehension and exam performance in musculoskeletal anatomy topics that are heavily represented (13%) on entry board exams? Hypothesis: Gamified learning will enhance medical students' retention of commonly missed anatomy clinical pearls and elevate their engagement relative to standard learning methods. Aims & Objectives: 1. Utilize an implementation science study to design

VCOM students in gameplay to identify the benefits of using games for boardexam review. This biphasic study, similar to an implementation science study, will evaluate the outcomes of game-style interve ntions within the medical school curriculum. Using self reported surveys, student satisfaction, understanding of musculoskeletal anatomy, and numerical COMSAE exam scores, we will analyze this data via the online platform QuestionPro. Results: This study is currently ongoing, and the results are pending. As a 2-phase project, we plan to design and produce Erb's Challenge, followed by implementing the game in board preparation. Conclusion: Upon completion of this project, we expect to see greater satisfaction and a better understanding of common clinical pearls in second year students. Utilizing a unique board-game review in preparatory material will heighten collaboration and engagement, and remain applicable for a wide spectrum of medical field specialties.

and follow up on educational progress from a selected population of medical students 2. Compare subjective learning satisfaction in musculoskeletal anatomy between those students utilizing a game-based review platform, and those who are not 3. Further identify the impacts of board games in science education 4. Discuss retention rates after engaging with game based educational material Methods: This project incorporates pearls from Moore's Clinically Oriented Anatomy into a Monopoly style educational game defined as a specific learning tool that requires learners to engage in a competitive activity within a set of predefinedrules. A physical board game was preferred to eliminate accessibility concerns when considering electronic devices and internet use. Artificial intelligence was used to create an outline of the board layout, the theme, and how musculoskeletal anatomy can be incorporated into objectives, including game railroad use and chance cards. Once printed, the goal is to engage OMS-2

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163 2026 Research Recognition Day