An alternative methodology for teaching and evaluation in medical education: crosswords

Abstract Introduction: Crosswords have been used to complement medical education in a fun way, yet they were not used as a method for the evaluation of students' performance. Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the development of crosswords and verify their validity as a method of performance evaluation in embryology. Materials and Methods: We used crossword based on subjects about stages of embryonic development with different levels of difficulty. To validate the crossword as the evaluation method of teaching, two evaluation methods were applied (the traditional and with crosswords, simultaneously) on students of Federal University of Piaui. The performance of students was analyzed with Pearson's correlation coefficient and data were analyzed to check for normal distribution through the Shapiro-Wilk test with significance level of 0.05. The tests were performed on the BioEstat statistical software version 5.0. Results: As result a total of 28 students were evaluated. It was observed that the resulting score of both the traditional and crossword evaluation methods demonstrating normal distribution (p=0.4127 and p=0.7016, respectively), did not present vices and tendencies. The average scores were 7.1 ± 2.0 and 6.9 ± 1.7 for the traditional and crossword evaluation methods, respectively, showing statistically significant difference (p=0.0001; r=0.67), demonstrating a moderate Pearson's correlation between the methods. Conclusion: In conclusion, crosswords may be used as supplementary material for teaching embryology. Also, crossword functioned as validated and reproducible method of performance evaluation that can be used in as alternative and/or complementary teaching of embryology or other disciplines in the medical ield.