Outside the classroom, typically in daily newspapers, crosswords aid in vocabulary development, used as a learning tool, a leisure activity, or both. In an academic environment, teachers utilize crossword puzzles to help students learn or remember terminology. The Potential of Crossword Puzzles in Aiding English Language Learners Given the wide availability and accessibility of crossword puzzles, their role in preventing cognitive decline should be validated in future clinical trials. Our findings show that late life crossword puzzle participation, independent of education, was associated with delayed onset of memory decline in persons who developed dementia. Inclusion of education or participation in other cognitively stimulating activities did not significantly add to the fit of the model beyond the effect of puzzles. Crossword puzzle participation at baseline delayed onset of accelerated memory decline by 2.54 years. We assessed the influence of crossword puzzle participation on the onset of accelerated memory decline as measured by the Buschke Selective Reminding Test in 101 individuals who developed incident dementia using a change point model.
We followed 488 initially cognitively intact community residing individuals with clinical and cognitive assessments every 12–18 months in the Bronx Aging Study. Participation in cognitively stimulating leisure activities such as crossword puzzles may delay onset of the memory decline in the preclinical stages of dementia, possibly via its effect on improving cognitive reserve. The first hypothesis was that crossword puzzles would improve introductory soil science…Īssociation of Crossword Puzzle Participation with Memory Decline in Persons Who Develop Dementia To this end, I developed and used three crossword puzzles in spring and fall 2009 semesters in Introductory Soil Science Laboratory at Colorado State University. Students in introductory courses generally respond favorably to novel approaches to learning. Students generally rated the crossword…Ĭrossword Puzzles as Learning Tools in Introductory Soil Science Students completed one crossword puzzle in class to prepare for an exam, and then they had the opportunity to complete a second crossword puzzle outside of class to prepare for the second exam. This article evaluates the use of instructor-created crossword puzzles as a means of reviewing course material. An Analysis of Instructor-Created Crossword Puzzles for Student ReviewĮRIC Educational Resources Information Center