Leveling Up Organic Chemistry: A Gamification Framework for Teaching Resonance

Resonance is a fundamental yet challenging concept in organic chemistry. To address students’ difficulties and low motivation, this study implemented a gamification strategy to teach resonance to first-year pharmacy undergraduate students. The approach integrated game elements such as experience points (XP), coins, badges, and missions into the curriculum. Students worked in groups to complete sequential activities, including constructing energy diagrams, generating electrostatic potential maps, building molecular models, and drawing resonance structures. The educational board game “Seven to Win” was also incorporated. Evaluation via a Likert-scale survey (N = 45) and the User Engagement Scale revealed that gamification significantly enhanced student engagement, motivation, and collaborative learning. A high overall rating (8.5 ± 1.4) and strong agreement that the strategy improved learning outcomes (77.8%) demonstrate its effectiveness. The study concludes that gamification is a powerful tool for making complex topics such as resonance more accessible and engaging.