2nd Place WINNER: Product of the Year at the 2009 Reynolds Grantees Meeting in Las Vegas, NV

For those familiar with medical and graduate medical education, interactive games have been used as instructional methods for content delivery to make learning fun in a familiar and non-threatening format. The format for Jeopardy, the popular TV game show, has been applied in various forms by educators in different fields and to different levels of learners. The popularity of game-based learning is seen in the American Geriatrics Society’s use of Geriatric Jeopardy games, during its national meetings at pre-conference and conference plenary sessions and is a testament to the popularity of this format for instructional delivery.

Educators who are fans of interactive party games and trivia games should consider adding GER-ANIUM to their instructional repertoire. Inspired by the popular board game Cranium, this product is a creative mix of word games, sculpting, drawing, charades and more. Dr. Jonathan Flacker modified the game to teach geriatric concepts to his Internal Medicine and Family Medicine housestaff at Emory University School of Medicine. GER-ANIUM is played with 4 - 6 residents around a table, and takes approximately 90 minutes. Covered topics include pressure ulcer management, cognitive and mood screening, and falls assessment.

To play the game the following items will be needed: 1). Table and chairs; 2). Poker chips in 5 colors; 3). Play-Doh or similar type of reusable modeling clay in 4 colors for the sculpting assignments; 4). Blank paper for drawing and writing; 5). Copies of the MMSE, Geriatric Depression Scale, Confusion Assessment Method and; 6). GER-ANIUM Cards made by printing the accompanying presentation slides as a handout, with 4-6 slides per page, and cutting them up.

Play begins by having a resident select any card from the pre-shuffled GER-ANIUM card stack. The card chosen by the resident may be one in the following 4 categories: 1). YOU ARTIST YOU – a drawing or sculpting assignment; 2). CRAZY SKILLS – a task requiring some core knowledge or formula; 3). YOU ARE THE STAR – a physical demonstration of an answer; and 4). ALL PLAY – a task requiringcompletion of an assignment by the whole group. For each answer given, the faculty moderator assigns a point value of 1-5 and gives the resident (or residents in the case of an ALL PLAY) a poker chip of the corresponding value. The moderator should explain their decision by reviewing what was good about the answer given, and what could use improvement. Play continues for as long as time permits. At the end the residents add up their chips and a winner is declared. Consider rewarding the winner with a small prize!

The author provides detailed guidelines in the presentation slide notes on how to score a player’s answer for each card. The notes often contain citations for optional reading that could supplement the instructor’s (or trainee’s) knowledge of the subject.

An obvious limitation is preparation time. The game requires pieces that should be obtained by the instructor ahead of time, such as sculpting clay and scoring pieces. The cards must also be prepared ahead of time. The author suggests having reference material on hand in order to score certain cards. Depending on the time constraints, instructor will need to either obtain those materials or remove the corresponding cards from the game.

Content delivery through a game format begs the question: How do you ensure that learning occurred? It certainly does not mean that content presented through a game is less educational than the same content presented through a more traditional instructional method, say, a presentation lecture. However, there should be a proper method of evaluation that could measure the level of learning that happened. One suggestion would be for the moderator or the game master to interrupt the game to ask about tasks that have already been done. This would ensure that information has been understood and retained by the residents.

Overall, this is a fun and simple game to implement, and is a welcomed addition to the POGOe library. Play GER-ANIUM with your residents, and tell us what you think!