Discipline of Pathology, Universiti Kuala Lumpur - Royal College of Medicine Perak, 3 Jalan Greentown, Ipoh 30450, Malaysia.
Singapore Med J. 2012 Feb;53(2):121-3.
In line with the trend to engage students in active learning, it is imperative to introduce new strategies that make learning more interesting, especially in undergraduate curricula. This study aimed to determine students' performance and perception in pathology crosswords as an active way of learning and to assess their ability to memorise difficult terms in pathology.
A crossword competition in pathology was conducted for two batches (year 2009 and 2010) of Phase 2 medical students in Malaysia. Crossword puzzles were prepared using an online application. Two sets of puzzles were prepared, with 20 questions for the assessment of general pathology and 20 for systemic pathology. The purpose was to compare the students' recent and remote memorising abilities, as general pathology was taught a year before proceeding to systemic pathology teaching. There were 12 groups per batch, with 8-10 students in a group. Survey questionnaires were used to assess the students' perception of the competition. Descriptive analysis was performed for comparison of performance.
The mean score of correctly answered questions in general pathology was 12.75 and 11.50 in batch 2009 and 2010, respectively. The mean score for systemic pathology was 14.50 in 2009 and 13.83 in 2010. Students in the 2009 batch performed better, but this was not statistically significant (p-value > 0.05). A positive response was observed from the questionnaires.
Applying crossword puzzles as a new strategy is a useful and easy way for undergraduate medical students to learn pathology.
为了顺应让学生积极参与学习的趋势，必须引入新的策略，使学习更有趣，尤其是在本科课程中。本研究旨在确定学生在病理学纵横字谜中的表现和看法，以此作为一种主动学习的方式，并评估他们在病理学中记忆难词的能力。
在马来西亚，对两个批次（2009 年和 2010 年）的第二阶段医学生进行了病理学纵横字谜竞赛。使用在线应用程序编写纵横字谜。准备了两套拼图，共有 20 个问题用于评估一般病理学，20 个问题用于系统病理学。目的是比较学生近期和远期记忆能力，因为一般病理学在进行系统病理学教学之前教授了一年。每个批次有 12 个小组，每个小组有 8-10 名学生。使用调查问卷评估学生对比赛的看法。进行描述性分析以比较绩效。
一般病理学中正确回答问题的平均得分为 12.75，2009 年和 2010 年分别为 11.50。2009 年系统病理学的平均得分为 14.50，2010 年为 13.83。2009 年批次的学生表现更好，但这在统计学上并不显著（p 值>0.05）。问卷调查结果显示出积极的反馈。
将纵横字谜作为一种新策略应用于本科医学生学习病理学是一种有用且简单的方法。
