Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic Of Iran

en Underpinning Learning Theories of Medical Educational Games: A Scoping Review Medical Education Medical Education Review Article Review Article Background: Gamification is the process of game thinking and game mechanics to attract learners and solve problems. It is a unique growing phenomenon in education and training programs. Educational games, by application of game design and game elements in learning environments, motivate students to learn and improve the teaching and learning process. Herein, this scoping review presents an overview of the theoretical underpinnings of gamification that is crucial in understanding the theoretical pillar of successful educational games.    Methods: This scoping review follows Arksey and O’Malley’s stages of scoping review. In this review, the gamification in medical education articles that implicitly or explicitly presented underpinning learning theories of gamification in medical education was retrieved. So, keywords such as gamification, learning theories, higher education, and medical education were searched in Scopus, PubMed, WEB OF SCIENCE, EMBASE, ERIC, and Cochrane Library from 1998 to March 2019.    Results: The search indicated 5416 articles which were narrowed down by title and abstract relatedness. 464 articles entered the second phase of the study and after reviewing their full text, finally, 10 articles which were explicitly and implicitly reported the underpinning learning theories remained.    Conclusion: Gamification is a strategy using game design techniques for non-game experiences for more effective learning and provides a more attractive environment for teaching and learning. Designing gamification based on learning theories (behavioral, cognitive, and constructivist), makes them more efficient, and the application of learning theories in designing gamification is recommended. Gamification, Learning Theories, Higher Education, Medical Education 196 202 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-5415-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Shoaleh Bigdeli bigdeli.sh@iums.ac.ir 200319475328460076550 200319475328460076550 No Center for Educational Research in Medical Sciences (CERMS), Department of Medical Education, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Zohreh Hosseinzadeh hosseinzadeh.z@iums.ac.ir 200319475328460076551 200319475328460076551 Yes Center for Educational Research in Medical Sciences (CERMS), Department of Medical Education, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), Tehran, Iran Afsaneh Dehnad afsanehdehnad@gmail.com 200319475328460076552 200319475328460076552 No Center for Educational Research in Medical Sciences (CERMS), Department of Medical Education, School of Medicine, & Department of English Language, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Zohreh Sohrabi zo_sohrabi@yahoo.com 200319475328460076553 200319475328460076553 No Center for Educational Research in Medical Sciences (CERMS), Department of Medical Education, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Maryam Aalaa aalaamaryam@gmail.com 200319475328460076554 200319475328460076554 No Department of e-Learning in Medical Education, Center of Excellence for e-Learning in Medical Education, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Fariba Haghani fariba.haghani@gmail.com 200319475328460076555 200319475328460076555 No Educational Development Center, Medical Education Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran Rasha Atlasi rashaatlasi@gmail.com 200319475328460076556 200319475328460076556 No Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Population Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran