Crossword Puzzle: An Innovative Assessment Tool to Improve Learning of Students in Forensic Medicine

Background: As per Medical Council of India (MCI) for setting teaching learning standards according to need of society, now has focus shift from traditional teaching methods to adopting teaching learning method that is been termed as competency-based learning. Faculty training programme by MCI are also providing the right platform for learning the new methodology in medical education. Objectives: To prepare an interesting and effective tool in assessing the knowledge of Forensic medicine among the medical undergraduate students to produce competent and confident Indian Medical Undergraduates. Methodology: Crossword puzzle exercise was given to 2nd year students, who were in 5th semester. 38 students participated in this study. A questionnaire was given to the participants to evaluate the response consisting of 15 questions; responses were obtained on Likert scale 5 to 0. Results: Out of 38 students 92% of students found the puzzle interesting. 76.4% students found this puzzle as a useful tool to learn forensic medicine. 73% students agreed it to be a useful tool for the assessment of their knowledge. 81% students were in favour to use such puzzle in competitive exams. In terms of retaining the knowledge of topics, 84 % students found this puzzle useful. Conclusion: Crossword puzzle improves memory power, performance and critical thinking of students with fun. This can be tried as a question in periodic internal examination for internal assessment as well as well as for the purpose of structured viva examination in university examination.