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The Use of the Puzzle Box as a Means of Assessing the Efficacy of Environmental Enrichment

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Crossword Puzzles and Knowledge Retention.

Elisa R Torres¹, P Renée Williams¹, Wondwosen Kassahun-Yimer¹

¹University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Journal of Effective Teaching in Higher Education

|July 11, 2022

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Creating and completing crossword puzzles may enhance student knowledge retention, but results vary. Further research is needed to understand the impact across different academic settings and programs.

Keywords:

active learning crossword puzzles educational activities educational measurement knowledge retention

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Area of Science:

Educational Psychology
Cognitive Science
Learning Sciences

Background:

Students find crossword puzzles engaging.
Crossword puzzles have demonstrated potential for improving knowledge retention.
Previous findings on crossword puzzles' impact on exam scores are inconsistent.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the association between creating and completing peer-generated crossword puzzles and improved knowledge retention.
To determine if active puzzle creation enhances learning outcomes compared to passive completion.
To assess the efficacy of student-created crossword puzzles as a learning tool.

Main Methods:

Students in a research course at two institutions were offered the option to create and complete crossword puzzles weekly.
Quiz scores were compared between students who created/completed puzzles and those who did not.
Data were collected across three semesters to account for temporal variations.

Main Results:

The association between creating/completing crossword puzzles and quiz scores varied significantly.
Results differed across institutions, academic programs, and even within the same program across different semesters.
No universal positive or negative effect of crossword puzzle creation/completion on knowledge retention was observed.

Conclusions:

Student perceptions of crossword puzzles do not fully align with measurable knowledge retention outcomes.
The effectiveness of crossword puzzles as an educational tool is contingent upon contextual factors like institution, program, and semester.
Future research should explore these contextual variables to optimize the use of crossword puzzles for learning.