Activity: Scientific bingo

Learning outcomes

By the end of the activity, students should be able to:

• Identify the main aspects of epidemiological scientific articles
• Analyse scientific articles critically

As regards transversal skills, students should be able to:

Interpersonal and socio-emotional skills:

• Express ideas clearly and fluently
• Use precise and descriptive/content-specific vocabulary to enhance the topic or message
• Share information in an organised and interesting way
• Share an analysis of the main message to interpret, synthesise and/or evaluate the meaning of the content in order to draw a logical conclusion about the topic
• Perform tasks efficiently and carefully
• Develop positive and emotionally safe interaction and develop and co-create teamwork
• Work cooperatively with others
• Create a non-discrimination atmosphere

Brief description of the activity

The activity consists of a bingo-like game of epidemiological studies. Each student will have a grid with cells filled with different characteristics of epidemiological studies (e.g. cohort study design, simple random sampling…) and a scientific article. Prior to the activity, they will have to read their own article and identify its main characteristics in terms of study design, sampling method, number of participants, information retrieval method, data analysis, limitations, etc. They will also need to have a look at their grid and get familiar with it. During the activity, they will have to look for students in the class whose article fits with each cell of their grid. For instance, if one of their grid’s cells states “study design: cohort study”, they will have to find someone whose article uses a cohort study design and write that student’s name in the corresponding cell. However, they cannot use that student’s article in any other cell, even if it fits more of them. Additionally, they can’t use their own article to fill the grid. Therefore, they will have to be strategic to be the first one to fill the grid and win the game.

Activity plan: step by step

Before the activity

According to the number of students that will take part in the activity, choose the scientific articles that you will assign to them. Make sure that these articles fit their knowledge (e.g. articles that do not use too difficult study designs) and that there is enough variability between them in terms of study designs, sampling methods, etc. You also need to print as many grids as students you will have in the activity. All the grids should have the same number of cells, and this number cannot exceed the number of students that will take part in the activity. However, the cells of each grid should be different. A couple examples of grids can be found below.

Besides preparing the grids, you also need to send the articles to students. Make sure that they read it before the activity, so that the whole activity can be devoted to filling the grid. You can even ask them to identify the main characteristics of their own article and bring it printed and with these characteristics highlighted in the activity. 

During the activity

Step 1. Explain the dynamics of the activity to students, give them the grids and leave them a couple minutes to re-read these. (15 min)

Step 2. Now, students should mingle and talk with each other, analyse their articles together, and fill in the cells of their grid. (45 min)

What students cannot do: 

1. Use someone’s article in more than one cell
2. Use their own article in one or more cells
3. Hide information or lie about their article’s characteristics to others

The first student to fill the grid will win the game. A winning grid should look like the one below.

Name of the student: Sherry 

After the activity

Once a student fills the grid, you should stop the game. Check the names of the grid and ask them whether their articles actually fit the cell in which they are placed. If you spot a mistake, resume the game. If no mistake is spotted, that student will win the game. If no one fills the grid in the activity’s time, the winner(s) will be the student with the highest number of correct cells. If there is time left after the game, you can use that time to make students explain their articles to others and analyse similarities and divergences between these.

Evaluation tool

Transversal skills are difficult to evaluate, particularly among big groups of students. Therefore, in this section we propose a tool for students to self-assess the development of these skills. The tool is divided into three dimensions: suitability of the learning activity, level of achievement of learning outcomes, and transferability to professional settings. You can adapt the dimensions and/or indicators that you use according to your teaching-learning context and needs. 

Evaluation tool to self-assess the development of skills during the activity

For each of the following statements, select the best answer on a scale from 1 to 4, where 1 means “Not at all” and 4 indicates “Yes, totally”. N/A means “not applicable”.

Download evaluation tool in pdf here.