Game-Based Learning to Promote Clinical Reasoning: An Innovative Educational Proposal in Pediatric Dentistry

Pediatric dentistry requires different professional knowledge and skills, including technical and analytical thinking skills, essential for deep clinical reasoning. To analyze the students’ awareness of their cognitive processes when solving clinical problems, a qualitative and inductive study with second and fifth year students in the Degree Course in Dentistry and Dental Prosthetics at the University of Verona was conducted. Adopting a phenomenological approach, it focused on participants’ lived experiences, gathering their reflections on solving clinical problems through two structured questions. The data, analyzed using content analysis, revealed that sometimes students focused on operational steps rather than reflecting on them, and underscored the necessity of innovating university teaching methods to enhance reflective moments. To respond to this need, a literature review was conducted, underscoring the value of active learning in innovating dentistry education. Accordingly, a game-based learning activity was elaborated: a dental-themed adaptation of the games where you guess an image without using certain predetermined words. Its goal is to create an interactive and engaging environment that facilitates sharing and reflection, challenging students to apply their competencies to practical scenarios. Finally, our research identified students’ educational needs to develop teaching strategies that shape their reflective process in clinical reasoning so as to be more deliberate and conscious.