Students’ Perceptions of Crossword Puzzles to Enhance Learning in Social Studies 10

Abstract

Extensive scholarly investigation in social studies education has led to a significant shift in the prevailing paradigm, moving away from conventional lecture-based teaching methods and towards adopting novel and student-centric instructional approaches. The utilization of crossword puzzles is a straightforward and innovative strategy for integrating active learning in the field of social studies. This subject area is an introduction for students to gain a fundamental comprehension of current circumstances, employing contemporary terminology and concepts that diverge significantly from their preexisting knowledge. This study aimed to evaluate students’ perspectives on crossword puzzles as a viable strategy for reinforcing essential concepts related to contemporary subjects. The study was carried out at Bagong Nayon II National High School. The study population comprised 60 tenth-grade students from the cohort of 2022-2023. After attending instructional lectures on the subject matter, the students were allocated 40 minutes to solve the puzzle using a freely available online puzzle generator. An eight-item survey instrument questionnaire was utilized to examine students’ perceptions of crossword puzzles. Many learners perceived using the crossword puzzles as an innovative pedagogical strategy, as indicated by most of their positive evaluations. Using crossword puzzles as an active learning strategy offers a unique, creative, and straightforward approach to enhance the retrieval and preservation of information. Consequently, the study demonstrated that appropriately using crossword puzzles increased student involvement. This instructional tool can serve as a means of formative evaluation and offers a cost-effective alternative to the constraints of didactic teaching.