Remember back in the day when grandparents used to fill in crossword puzzles at the back of the daily newspaper? Well, the newspapers themselves might be a thing of the past, but the puzzles live on. In fact, crosswords can play major roles in education as they’ve been thought to boost cognitive abilities in people of all ages.
Not only are they great for learning new concepts, but they can also be fun side activities for students when they need a break. Plus, with the popularity of edtech tools, digital crosswords can be a great addition to your classroom. And best of all, they’re easy to set up in any interactive textbook!
To learn how to use digital crossword puzzles in education, we will show you several useful examples and explore together how to create your own.
What Is a Digital Crossword Puzzle?
A digital crossword puzzle is a minigame students can play by filling a grid with the correct words using certain clues. It can be played online through interactive websites, educational apps, or learning management systems (LMS).
Alternatively, you can integrate crossword puzzles into interactive textbooks for a more engaging learning experience. Some software, such as Kotobee Author, allows you to create interactive puzzles that can be easily embedded inside a digital textbook for an engaging learning experience.
What Are the Benefits of Using Crossword Puzzles In Education?
Puzzles of all sorts can be lots of fun, but crosswords in particular can be helpful in teaching certain concepts and skills. This includes everything from improving vocabulary to promoting cognitive thinking skills.
Here are the benefits of educational crossword puzzles:
- Creating a more engaging learning environment: According to studies, crossword puzzles can make learning more immersive and enjoyable. So if your students are easily distracted during class, try giving them a few puzzles to solve. This can help them focus on the lesson and associate learning with fun activities.
- Improving students’ memory: In order to solve a crossword puzzle, students can be asked to recall certain words and terms from their lessons. The more puzzles they solve, the better their memory becomes.
- Encouraging independent problem-solving: Piecing together answers from clues is the cornerstone of the crossword puzzle. When students practice this skill, they gain confidence and are more likely to think critically as they solve more puzzles. In turn, they can learn to experiment with different solutions to a problem and perceive mistakes as learning opportunities.
How to Add Digital Crossword Puzzles to Your Ebooks (Using Kotobee Author)
Ready to create your first digital crossword puzzle? Let’s get started! We’ll walk you through setting up and customizing the Crosswords puzzles inside your textbooks. To do that, we’ll be using the award-winning ebook creator Kotobee Author to add crosswords mini-apps to your ebook.
With the Crosswords Mini-App, you can:
- Create multiple customized puzzles tailored to your subject.
- Embed puzzles into specific ebook pages or make them accessible from any chapter.
- Allow students to check their answers instantly and retry as needed.
- Provide an interactive learning experience that works even offline.
After you download the software and activate your free license, go ahead and follow the instructions below to add crossword puzzles to your digital textbook:
1. Create a new ebook or import your own: When you open Kotobee Author, you can create a new textbook from scratch using a variety of built-in design templates or simply import your own file. To do so, click the “Import” button in the top left corner, which will display a list of supported file formats.
2. Get the Crosswords mini-app: Once your textbook file is ready to edit in Kotobee Author, head to the “Customize” section. Click on the “Mini-Apps” tab from the left menu then look for the Crosswords mini-app. After you enable it, you’re then ready to start creating the puzzles.
3. Customize the crossword puzzle: Now that you’ve added the mini-app to your ebook, it’s time to create and customize your puzzles. Click on it and start adjusting the name of the puzzle, the background, and the target words as well as their clues.
For a more in-depth explanation, check out the video tutorial below:
4. Preview your puzzles: When you’re done creating the puzzles, you can preview them to make sure that everything is to your liking. To do this, click on the “Preview” button next to the Crosswords customization you want to test.
For example, the Astrophysics puzzle we created looks like this when we preview it:
5. Export the ebook: Time to deliver your updated textbook to your students! To do that, head over to the “Export” tab and pick your preferred option.
When choosing a file format, make sure to select one that supports Kotobee mini-apps. This includes EPUB, SCORM package, and various types of apps, such as desktop and mobile ones.
Here, we went with the regular EPUB format. However, you can choose whichever option you prefer.
Then click “Export,” and that’s it! Now you have an interactive textbook that contains fun crossword puzzles for your students to solve. To access the puzzles, they just need to view the textbook using Kotobee Reader.
Check out the Crossword Puzzles in Education ebook!
Crossword Puzzle Examples to Enforce New Vocabulary and Terminologies
Now that you know how useful crossword puzzles can be for learning, let’s start discussing their applications. The most common way to use educational crosswords is to teach vocabulary or new terminology. So, we’ll show you a few examples below, each in a different subject.
Example 1: Human Anatomy Terms
Our first example comes from a common topic in biology class: the human body. There are many different organs, muscles, and bones to study, so a crossword puzzle can be a great tool for memorizing them. In fact, research has shown that crossword puzzles can even benefit med students in their studies. Below, you’ll find an example of a typical puzzle about human anatomy.
Example 2: Language Learning
Next, we all know that it’s important to memorize vocabulary when learning new languages. So, why not turn those vocab lists into a crossword puzzle? And you don’t just have to use regular vocab lists as well. In fact, why not quiz your students on homonyms, synonyms, and antonyms? In the following examples, we’ve included custom puzzles for Spanish vocabulary and English homophones.
Example 3: Astrophysics Terms
Let’s take another example about a different subject: astrophysics. You can also introduce it to your students using a crossword puzzle. For inspiration, check out the one we created below.
Example 4: Literature Studies
What if you’re teaching a literature class, but your students don’t always remember certain literary terms? Try giving them a crossword puzzle with these terms as the target words. That way, your students can use the puzzle to memorize them more effectively. Below, we’ve included an example of such a puzzle.
Example 5: Finance Buzzwords
What’s great about crossword puzzles is that you can use them even if you’re teaching university-level or professional courses for adults. For example, a course in finance can come with a fun bonus puzzle that helps reinforce key terms. We’ve created an example for you that puts that idea into action.
Crossword Puzzle Examples to Encourage Critical Thinking
Now, let’s try a different approach. What other uses are there for crossword puzzles in education? As it turns out, they’re great for motivating students to think critically about various problems across all subjects. We’ll show you how this is possible in the examples below.
Example 1: Math Equations
Finally, have you ever thought of substituting crosswords with cross-numbers? If not, then give it a try! Set up the clues in the form of math equations, then assign the answers to them as the target words. This unusual activity can gamify math lessons and motivate your students to think about their answers from different angles, which is an essential skill in mathematics.
Example 2: Riddles as Puzzles
Many of us love riddles, as they can be quite challenging to solve. So imagine a crossword puzzle in which every question is a riddle! This activity can be fun for students who want to test their critical thinking skills. Below, you’ll find a sample puzzle that showcases riddles as clues.
Example 3: Cause-and-Effect in History
Our final example is a history crossword puzzle with a twist. Instead of asking for names and dates, you can instruct your students to find the correct answers based on cause-and-effect relationships. This can encourage learners to analyze historical patterns and understand why certain events occurred. If you want some inspiration for your own history puzzle, take a look at the example below.
Final Thoughts
Crossword puzzles can be quite effective in education. Not only do they provide fun breaks during long study sessions, but they can also improve students’ memory. More importantly, crosswords can help nurture creative thinking and cognitive reasoning skills.
So, have you ever given your students a few crossword puzzles to solve and think through? Or perhaps you’ve already tried Kotobee’s Crosswords mini-app? If so, we would love to hear about your experience!
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