Mnemonic-based digital platform for improved health literacy amount secondary students.

Project Summary/Abstract
In health sciences education, leveraging innovative strategies like game-based learning (GBL),
mnemonics, and artificial intelligence (AI) is crucial for enhancing student engagement and information retention.
These methods introduce interactive learning, improve memory recall, and offer personalized educational
experiences, addressing the challenges of conveying complex medical knowledge effectively.
Our project integrates these three pedagogical techniques into a platform for health sciences education.
By combining interactive gameplay, mnemonic characters representing medical concepts, and AI-enabled non-
playable characters (NPCs) for personalized dialogues, this approach targets the effective learning and retention
of complex medical knowledge. Our preliminary studies indicate the platform’s efficacy across educational levels.
A section of the Endocrine module boosted high school students' understanding of pancreatic functions by over
200%. Furthermore, medical students exposed to a section of the immune module outperformed their peers on
related exam questions.
We expect that long-term outcomes of our platform will include a decrease in disease burden as health
literacy is the best form of preventative medicine. We hypothesize that our novel health sciences education
platform, which integrates game-based learning, mnemonics, and AI strategies will promote student learning and
engagement with medical knowledge. This will be assessed through the following specific aims.
Aim 1: Develop a pilot prototype platform to support health education. This aim develops a prototype
platform with three modules centered around the endocrine, immune, and circulatory systems, incorporating
multiple mnemonic-based characters and items.
Aim 2: Incorporate AI-powered Medimasters into the prototype platform. This aim seeks to incorporate fine-
tuned generative AI technologies to personalize the learning experience, creating NPC Medimasters that adapt
content and challenges based on the individual learner.
Aim 3: Assess platform prototype feasibility to enhance student engagement and satisfaction with health
education material. The final aim will assess the platform's effectiveness in improving student engagement and
satisfaction with health education material through pre/posttest, surveys, focus group analysis, and analysis of
student-NPC interactions.
Our project enhances health sciences education by blending game-based learning, mnemonics, and AI
into a digital platform. It aims to fill educational gaps in student engagement and information retention, utilizing
interactive elements and AI for personalized learning. This approach promises to revolutionize health education
through scalable, evidence-based methods.

Grant Number: 1R41GM161136-01
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Tyler Bland