Acceptability of the use of crossword puzzles as an assessment method in Pharmacology (original) (raw)
Related papers
The usefulness of crossword puzzle as a self-learning tool in pharmacology
Journal of advances in medical education & professionalism, 2018
Pharmacology is perceived as a volatile subject as it's difficult to recall and recite the core of the subject. Enriching the learning environment through incorporation of a variety of teaching and learning strategies and methods yields enhanced learning. Crossword puzzles provide expansion of vocabulary, stimulate thinking capacity, boost confidence, and fasten up the learning capacity; hence, the present study was conducted to investigate the usefulness of crossword puzzle as an innovative self-learning tool in pharmacology. This prospective study was conducted among 5th semester students of the second professional MBBS course. A total of 139 students participated in this study and were evaluated with formative examination and feedback questionnaire. Permission was taken from Institutional Ethics Committee for the study. A crossword puzzle consisting of 32 questions on endocrine pharmacology was prepared and divided into two sections: the across section had 17 questions and th...
Crossword Puzzle as a Learning Tool to Enhance Learning about Anticoagulant Therapeutics
Research Square (Research Square), 2021
Background: Educational games make the learning process more enjoyable, fun, and create a competitive classroom environment that can positively affect learning. The purpose of this study was to evaluate pharmacy students' perceptions of crossword puzzles (CWPs) as a learning tool in the pharmacotherapy cardiovascular module focusing on anticoagulants' therapeutics and assessing if students' preference of learning style influenced their perception. Methods: Clues for the puzzle were developed, validated, and piloted by course faculty. A free internet puzzle generator was used to create puzzles with 10 to 20 clues. Students were given 30 min to solve the puzzle following six hours of didactic lectures about the topic. An 8-item survey instrument and Pharmacists' Inventory of Learning Styles (PILS) questionnaire were administered to examine students' perceptions of the game and their learning style preference, respectively. Results: Two hundred sixty-seven students participated in the activity from both undergraduate programs (BPharm and PharmD) over three consecutive course offerings. Most students expressed favorable perceptions of the puzzle. Female and BPharm students had significantly more favorable perceptions than male and PharmD students on several perception items. The dominant preferred learning style (PLS) was converger (35.6%), followed by assimilator (25.3%), while 15.1% had mixed learning styles. The study did not find a significant association between PLS and students' perceptions toward the CWP. Conclusions: The CWP game presented an innovative, creative, and easy active learning tool to enhance information recall, retention, and class engagement while accommodating all learning style preferences.
Crossword Puzzles as Alternative Didactics in Biochemistry
2010
Learning basic science disciplines is often difficult to acquire by students in the biological area. Biochemistry in particular is a discipline with abstract concepts and traditional teaching techniques are focused on students that take a passive role receiving knowledge already digested by the teacher. For more than 10 years a quarterly basis different crossword puzzles with specific areas of Biochemistry (CRUCIBIOQ) by a Journal of Education in Biochemistry (Revista de Educacion Bioquimica) and since 7 years have been available online. (http://computo.sid.unam.mx/Bioquimica). Didactical characteristics of these crosswords consists firstly by definition. This would be enough to identify the word response, but generally there is extra information that enhances knowledge. From an educational point of view these is a mental activity to identify the correct word and it is a better way to incorporate their learning additional information. This activity has a playful component that can h...
The use of crossword puzzles as an educational tool
2021
Introduction: Instruction in teacher-centered formats may lead to early learning fatigue, which in turn, decelerates students’ knowledge retrieval. Presently, teachers try to increase students' participation and their active attention to course content by incorporating effective, applicable, low-cost, and enjoyable teaching apparatuses. Methods: The participants of this quasi-experimental study were the students of speech therapy in 4th semester (n=83) at Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences. They were simple-randomly divided into two groups of experimental (who received the crossword puzzle accompanied by lecture or the hybrid method as Group A) and control (who received the traditional method as Group B). The students' knowledge level and students' satisfaction with their received instruction methods were assessed as outcome measures throughout the experiment for both groups. The test score of students' initial knowledge of the concepts in Speech Therap...
Innovative Learning: Crossword Puzzle as a Learning Tool for Undergraduates
International journal of scientific research, 2021
Background: Medical education is excogitating every day from traditional learning to innovative learning methods. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of Crossword Puzzle as an innovative learning tool and its acceptance by medical undergraduate students. Methods: This Cross-sectional Observational study was conducted on a purposive sample in Hind Institute of Medical Sciences, Barabanki over a period of 3 months from August to October 2020. Four crossword puzzles including 20 questions each on different topics in Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology were made after ensuring content validity. Small groups of four students each were made and allowed group discussion to solve crossword puzzle in 10 minutes which was given as Pre-test and Post-test before and after the Lecture respectively. After obtaining informed consent, students were given a questionnaire identifying cognitive, affective and applied aspects of learning domains and asked to respond on a 5point Likert scale. Results: Total 26 groups of 4 students each participated (n=104). Total Mean (standard deviation) of four Pre-test and Post-test scores were 8.47(1.44) and 16.18(1.95) respectively (p-value < 0.00001). The merits of crossword puzzle listed by students: identifying key concepts (91.35%), enhanced knowledge (91.35%), promoted cognitive/mental skills and attitude (92.31%), satisfactory (87.5%), recommended to incorporate in teaching curriculum (87.5%), and promoted active learning by collaborative and competitive aspects (91.35%). Conclusions: Student's perceptions indicate the usefulness of crossword puzzles to endorse positive learning in an interactive environment and advocates their use as an adjunct to lecture thereby allowing easy recall of the content.
Crossword Puzzle: An Innovative Assessment Tool to Improve Learning of Students in Forensic Medicine
Medico-Legal Update, 2020
Background: As per Medical Council of India (MCI) for setting teaching learning standards according to need of society, now has focus shift from traditional teaching methods to adopting teaching learning method that is been termed as competency-based learning. Faculty training programme by MCI are also providing the right platform for learning the new methodology in medical education. Objectives: To prepare an interesting and effective tool in assessing the knowledge of Forensic medicine among the medical undergraduate students to produce competent and confident Indian Medical Undergraduates. Methodology: Crossword puzzle exercise was given to 2 nd year students, who were in 5 th semester. 38 students participated in this study. A questionnaire was given to the participants to evaluate the response consisting of 15 questions; responses were obtained on Likert scale 5 to 0. Results: Out of 38 students 92% of students found the puzzle interesting. 76.4% students found this puzzle as a useful tool to learn forensic medicine. 73% students agreed it to be a useful tool for the assessment of their knowledge. 81% students were in favour to use such puzzle in competitive exams. In terms of retaining the knowledge of topics, 84 % students found this puzzle useful. Conclusion: Crossword puzzle improves memory power, performance and critical thinking of students with fun. This can be tried as a question in periodic internal examination for internal assessment as well as well as for the purpose of structured viva examination in university examination.
Learning basic science disciplines is often difficult to acquire by students in the biological area. Biochemistry in particular is a discipline with abstract concepts and traditional teaching techniques are focused on students that take a passive role receiving knowledge already digested by the teacher. For more than 10 years a quarterly basis different crossword puzzles with specific areas of Biochemistry (CRUCIBIOQ) by a Journal of Education in Biochemistry (Revista de Educacion Bioquimica) and since 7 years have been available online. (http://computo.sid.unam.mx/Bioquimica). Didactical characteristics of these crosswords consists firstly by definition. This would be enough to identify the word response, but generally there is extra information that enhances knowledge. From an educational point of view these is a mental activity to identify the correct word and it is a better way to incorporate their learning additional information. This activity has a playful component that can help students, to improve or to acquire knowledge. Published titles of some crosswords there are: Obesity, Membranes, Free Radicals, Phospholipids, Bioenergetics Cholesterol and associated substances, among others. We have implemented some crosswords to students at School of Medicine of UNAM to assess knowledge, on the other hand they had been developed in the same way by teachers from other schools and universities in Mexico and other countries of Latin America, at the same time they are widely consulted online. An internet counter has been recording approximately 15,000 visitors online. We believe that this is a technique that can help students to acquire a long lasting knowledge because of their mental participation in this process.
Crossword puzzles: active learning in undergraduate pathology and medical education
Archives of pathology & laboratory medicine, 2009
Second-year medical students are introduced to many new terms and concepts in a short time frame in the hematology system and the neoplasia section of the undergraduate pathology course. It is a challenge to provide adequate practice and necessary repetition to reinforce key concepts. To determine student perceptions of the usefulness of crosswords as a quick and effective way to reinforce essential concepts and vocabulary. Crosswords with ensured content validity built on a free Internet resource were completed by the students in collaborative and cooperative groups of 6 to 7 with a reward for the first group to successfully complete the puzzle. Student perceptions of the value of crosswords for their learning were examined in 2003 (39 students) with a survey of yes or no responses and in 2004 (41 students) with a survey using questions with a 5-point Likert scale. Many students (37 of 39 in 2003 and 24 of 41 in 2004) indicated that crosswords were useful and contributed to their l...
Reviewing for Exams: Do Crossword Puzzles Help in the Success of Student Learning
The goal of this project was to further our understanding of how students learn. Does reviewing for exams using certain teaching methods actually enhance students' learning of course material? Through a comparative analysis of two sections of the same class the researchers tested to see if using crossword puzzles as a 'fun' review technique actually affects students' exam scores as evidence of successful learning. The results revealed that some classes benefited while others did not.
Interactive Crossword Puzzles as an Adjunct Tool in Teaching Undergraduate Dental Students
International Journal of Dentistry
Background. In the restorative dentistry module of the undergraduate dental program, dental students encounter many new terms and concepts in a short period of time. The provision of adequate learning support to reinforce key concepts can be challenging. Aim. The purpose of this study is to determine student perceptions of how effective interactive crossword puzzles are as adjunctive tools to enhance the learning of restorative dentistry. Methods. Students completed interactive crossword puzzles created by the authors, with a reward awarded to the first group of students who completed the puzzles successfully. The interactive crossword platform was programmed using the ReactJS framework and designed using Tailwind CSS. An evaluation of the student's perception of this educational method was conducted using textual feedback and Likert-scale questionnaires. Results. Students found the crossword puzzles engaging, meaningful, and successful as indicated by their favorable Likert sco...