Gamification and a low-cost laboratory equipment aimed to boost vapor compresion refrigeration learning

The nowadays European educational framework boosts applying the learned theoretical concepts to real situations. Hence, practice sessions are key resources to present students direct applications of the theoretical concepts shown in class. Thus, developing new educational equipment and practice sessions oriented to bringing theoretical knowledge closer to practice should be one of the objectives of teachers. The present work describes a solution proposed by lectures of two Spanish universities looking to increase the knowledge of their engineering students. Along the years, these docents have noticed the lack of connection between the theoretical and practical knowledge among their students, drastically harming their learning procedure. Thus, in order to deepen into practical learning, a teaching methodology involving low-cost prototypes of vapor compression systems and a gamification method to help the students understand the concepts is proposed. The proposed methodology is expected to make a big positive impact on the results obtained by the students, taking into account the preliminary results reached. The authors are indebted to the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, and European Regional Development Fund for the economic support to this work, included in the RTI2018-093501-B-C21 and RTI2018-093501-B-C22 research projects and to the Public University of Navarre for the economic support to this work included in the PJUPNA2003 research project.