Crossword Puzzle as an Effective Formative Assessment Tool in Physiology—From Trial for Implementation in Competency-Based Medical Education

A BSTRACT Background: The new curriculum envisages a different perspective on assessment and advocates greater emphasis on setting up continuous assessment. With advances in technology, many innovations about teaching, learning and assessment have been experimented. The present study intended to explore the effectiveness of crossword puzzles as an assessment tool for learning. Material and Methods: For one half of the competencies in endocrine physiology, after planned lecture sessions, a crossword puzzle was distributed and the students were instructed to solve the puzzle soon after the session. For the other half of the competencies, only planned lecture sessions were conducted. Students’ performance was tested by conducting part completion tests, which included questions from topics covered by lectures with and without crossword puzzles. Following this, a pre-validated questionnaire was administered to study the students’ perception about usefulness for extension of the utility. Results: In the part completion test, the scores obtained by students for the questions covered by lecture and crossword were significantly higher than the scores obtained by the students in questions covered by lecture alone. The majority of them expressed positive vibes towards crossword puzzles as an in-class room formative assessment tool. Conclusion: The findings of the present study suggest that blending crossword puzzles at the end of lecture sessions would lead to better student involvement in the learning process and improved performance as it provides a recreational break from lecture monotony.