Traditional Games to Reinforce the Knowledge Learned in an Engineering Master Degree

Abstract

[EN] As long as human beings can remember, games have been conceived in order to get fun and as pastime for the free time. With the quick and significant advance of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), these traditional games have been relegated to the background. These games, that several years ago were very well-known among students, currently are not popular anymore. University students are more focused on mobile apps and digital games rather than these out-of-date games. As students are unfamiliar with these traditional games, teachers have recovered them in order to be applied at master degree level with the main objective of learning while playing . The traditional games implemented in the master degree classes are the hangman wordguessing and crossword games. There are different online tools that offer the possibility to configure customized hangman and crossword games in order to be adapted to the different subjects and lessons. Both games are performed in an Engineering Master Degree, more particularly in the subject of Demand and Supply Management . After performing both games in different sessions, the students assessment is very positive and it seems that this kind of practice reinforces the students knowledge gained through the master classes. The paper shows how these two games are applied at the university covering the examples used in the master degree and how these activities strengthen students knowledge.