CROSSWORD PUZZLES AS ALTERNATIVE DIDACTICS IN BIOCHEMISTRY

Learning basic science disciplines is often difficult to acquire by students in the biological area. Biochemistry in particular is a discipline with abstract concepts and traditional teaching techniques are focused on students that take a passive role receiving knowledge already digested by the teacher.

For more than 10 years a quarterly basis different crossword puzzles with specific areas of Biochemistry (CRUCIBIOQ) by a Journal of Education in Biochemistry (Revista de Educacion Bioquimica) and since 7 years have been available online. (http://computo.sid.unam.mx/Bioquimica).

Didactical characteristics of these crosswords consists firstly by definition. This would be enough to identify the word response, but generally there is extra information that enhances knowledge. From an educational point of view these is a mental activity to identify the correct word and it is a better way to incorporate their learning additional information. This activity has a playful component that can help students, to improve or to acquire knowledge. Published titles of some crosswords there are: Obesity, Membranes, Free Radicals, Phospholipids, Bioenergetics Cholesterol and associated substances, among others. We have implemented some crosswords to students at School of Medicine of UNAM to assess knowledge, on the other hand they had been developed in the same way by teachers from other schools and universities in Mexico and other countries of Latin America, at the same time they are widely consulted online. An internet counter has been recording approximately 15,000 visitors online. We believe that this is a technique that can help students to acquire a long lasting knowledge because of their mental participation in this process.