A Study on the Effectiveness of Student Enrichment Activities in Teaching Pharmacology to Medical Undergraduate Students

changing characteristics.Use of activities and game-based methods motivates the students and creates an environment of interest not only for the students but also for the faculty.Such innovative methods of teaching also stimulate the curiosity of the learners. 2 Crossword puzzles have been recognized in few earlier studies to kindle student interest 3,4 in addition to provoking attentiveness in class, whereas fill-in multiple blanks 5 are considered to be a more challenging version of multiple-choice questions.There are no studies in the literature to evaluate the effectiveness of learnercentered SEA like crossword puzzles and fill-in multiple blanks in teaching competency-based pharmacology curriculum to phase 2 MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) students.The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of these IntroductIonMultiple innovations in teaching learning methods in medical schools have been implemented across the globe.Pharmacology and therapeutics is a paraclinical subject taught in the second phase of the medical curriculum in India.The National Medical Commission in India has currently implemented the competencybased medical curriculum, and accordingly there is a paradigm shift with the emphasis moving from teacher-oriented to studentoriented teaching and the medical teacher taking up the role of a facilitator. 1 Pharmacology and therapeutics is a subject with a vast theory base that includes the general pharmacology and the systemic pharmacology, which in turn encompasses the pharmacological concepts of drugs acting on multiple systems such as autonomic nervous system (ANS), cardiovascular system (CVS), and central nervous system (CNS).In the second phase of medical undergraduate curriculum, familiarizing with several drug classes and discerning the diverse pharmacological concepts across different drug groups and relating the drugs to their specific clinical uses is a challenging experience for the students.Different learning methods are routinely incorporated in facilitating the learning process in pharmacology, which include seminar presentations, quiz competitions, model preparations, etc. Introduction of student enrichment activities (SEA) that are learnercentered and innovative is vital in the face of changing curriculum and would also serve to enhance learning in the current-age students with 1-