Katherine,doing this in a shorter time frame is a great idea.
Michele Deck
I really like mystery word idea. The only change I would make it that instead of it being over several classes, I would give a new clue every hour. Maybe as soon as the students comeback from break, then that will refocus them back to the class and "encourage" them the come back to class promtly.
Scott,thank you for sharing your research and the positive results you see using crossword puzzles.
Michele Deck
for my students missing term of the week and charades are being really helpfull they tend to look for the answears to be able to respond to it and beat thir classmates to obtain their extra points and easily pass their exams.
Offer help if they're stuck. Encourage them to seek out the correct information. Praise for a job well done. Let them know how this activity is helping them learn the material.
Crossword puzzles can be effective teaching tools. They encourage logical thinking and correct spelling. I think that much of the material delivered to students in vocational types institutions is through “presentation†of factual information via passive teaching methods. Incorporation of active-learning methods into classroom instruction allows lecturers to engage students in the learning process and enhance their learning experience. I can see how the use of games in the classroom is an effective way of introducing active learning in the classroom. Crossword puzzles are one method of “material review†that I use frequently. Since one of the advantages of a crossword puzzle is its unique characteristic of self-correcting due to the length of each word and the overlap of each answer with other answers, the correct answers do not necessarily have to be discussed in class. This means that students really get to do all the work……they get to learn and better retain the information and the grading is really on auto-pilot for the instructor. I do not award credit towards the final grade to the students for completion of the crossword puzzles nor do I require students to turn in the puzzles……I don’t have to, all of my students do them voluntarily because they realize the importance and see the effects on their final grades.
There was research completed by South University School of Pharmacy that studied the effects of crossword puzzles and the correlation with retained information. The goal of our survey was to examine students' perception of crossword puzzles as creative and interactive educational materials to enhance their learning experience. The student responses to the 8-question survey captured the multiple benefits of crossword puzzles as supplements to traditional lecture formats. Students reported that crossword puzzles helped them to identify important topics and served as a good review of the material covered. A majority of students also believed that crossword puzzles enhanced their learning. The results from this survey were consistent with previous studies examining the effectiveness and student perception of crossword puzzles as study tools.
Holt, thank you for sharing your idea.
Michele Deck
Christopher, 4 hours can be a long time if you do not use a variety of methods.
Michele Deck
Shelle, I agree with your reasoning on this.
Michele Deck
My students love the word searches in learning the terminology ,and also games that are on the CD coming with the textbook.
Medical /Dental Terminology is the big challenge to the new students especially.I came up with an idea for my students to study and quiz themselves on terminology: besides using flash cards ,I suggested to take an index card and write one half of it the terminology word and on the same side of the card ,on the other half the definition.When the student finished studying the term with its definition,I ask him/her to cut the index cards in halves and then mixed them up,and finally pick half of an index card with the a terminology word and look for the other half that has the definition on it.This way a student can quiz himself /herself.
I have done both crosswords and word searches, i find that it helps the students reinforce the spelling of the words. I have also played jeopardy and word to definitoon matching games with the class. THese activities help to break up the monotony of 4 hours of lecture
I like the crossword puzzles as well. I think it requires more of a thought process than word search activities. I tend to use the word search for more entry level students, and crossword puzzles for more advanced students.
I like the individual activities. Most of my learners are more group oriented, but it would be nice to offer the individual activitie in place of a group activity for those that are less enthusiastic about participating.
Tessie , I'm glad to hear these are working for you.
Michele Deck
As I have mentioned before Jeopardy is the flavor of the month for now but Mystery term is fast becoming a favorite and I will try Charade and Draw a Term when the class starts nodding off.
I have used both crossword puzzles and word searches and the students enjoy them. I am glad to be reminded by this module to do them more often and to think of them as an open book quiz is a great idea.
Students usually get word searches related to the course after they take their final exam. I often watch their faces and can see they found where they may have missed an answer on the exam that was on the word search.
Great examples of activities and games from both sections. I like these as a break in monotony and a way to incorporate assessment for the entire class. Group efforts help prevent any one student from feeling like a failure and I think they give the best feeling at the end of the activity. Great for reinforcement and assessment.
Antoinette, this would give you opportunities to reinforce the weaker content.
Michele Deck
I like the mystery weekly term. I would like to incorporate this by using prefixes and suffixes in Medical Terminology. I discover that my students are weak in this area and I feel by doing this activities they can review and have fun too!
