A puzzle used to teach the cardiac cycle

Abstract

The aim of the present article is to describe a puzzle developed for use in teaching cardiac physiology classes. The puzzle presents figures of phases of the cardiac cycle and a table with five columns: phases of cardiac cycle, atrial state, ventricular state, state of atrioventricular valves, and pulmonary and aortic valves. Chips are provided for use to complete the table. Students are requested to discuss which is the correct sequence of figures indicating the phases of cardiac cycle. Afterward, they should complete the table with the chips. Students of biology, dentistry, medicine, pharmacy, and nursing graduation courses from seven institutions performed the puzzle evaluation. They were invited to indicate whether the puzzle had been useful for learning about the subject by filling one of four alternatives. Of the students, 4.6% answered that it was not necessary but helped them to confirm what they had learned, 64.5% reported that although they had previously understood the cardiac cycle, the puzzle helped them to solve doubts and promoted a better understanding of it, and 30.9% said that they needed the puzzle to understand the cardiac cycle, without differences among courses, institutions, and course semesters. The results of the present study suggest that a simple and inexpensive puzzle may be useful as an active learning methodology applied after the theoretical lecture, as a complementary tool for studying cardiac cycle physiology.

Crossword puzzle: a tool for enhancing medical students' learning in microbiology and immunology

“…5,6 Using recreational games during classroom lecture decreases stress among students and thereby provides a relaxed environment to learn better. 1,13 In many of the previous studies, crossword puzzles were found to contribute to the overall learning of the undergraduate medical students. [5][6][7][8][9][10] Crossman EK in his study on psychology course also showed that students achieve better scores after using crossword puzzles.…”

“…[5][6][7][8][9][10] Crossman EK in his study on psychology course also showed that students achieve better scores after using crossword puzzles. 13 A contributing factor to the enhanced learning skills in crossword puzzles is due to dry and monotonous nature of the regular didactic lectures. Studies have shown that adult students have an attention span of 20-30 minutes and hence it is good to shorten the traditional lecture and implement recreational learning exercises such as crossword puzzles, online quizzes, and audio-video clips.…”

Effect of an educational game on student´s learning: different approaches for evaluation

“…Briefly, in groups of 4-5 participants, students received the puzzle containing pictures of the cardiac cycle phases, one table and chips for filling the table as described previously (see Marcondes et al, 2015). They were asked to identify the correct sequence of the figures of the phases of the cardiac cycle.…”

“…Considering the teaching of the cardiac cycle, it has been developed by our group a cardiac cycle puzzle (Marcondes et al, 2015). Students of Biology, Medicine, Pharmacy and Nursing careers evaluated the cardiac cycle puzzle as useful for their learning (Marcondes et al, 2015).…”

“…Students of Biology, Medicine, Pharmacy and Nursing careers evaluated the cardiac cycle puzzle as useful for their learning (Marcondes et al, 2015). Cardozo et al (2016) observed that Dental students who made an activity with this puzzle had fewer errors and higher grades in a test applied immediately after the activity, in comparison with students who had read about the same topic.…”