Or so I thought.
I don't even remember what my impetus was for creating a series of crossword puzzles for my college prep physic course, but create I did. Computer software meant I could load a list of words and the computer would craft a puzzle grid. Then I could add words to flesh out the puzzle and fill the page.
What I didn't expect was student enthusiasm for the puzzles. That enthusiasm acted s a catalyst, and I worked out an implementation scheme.
When students finish a unit test on test day, I don't have anything else for them to do. Students work at different paces and I wanted everyone to have ample time to complete the test. So quick finishers have time left over. In college, they could simply leave the classroom. In high school, that's not an option. So now there's a problem: students who are finished have "idle hands"... the Devil's plaything. They want to talk to classmates or (increasingly) be on their phones. I wasn't good with phones in my classroom, especially during a test administration.
So when students turn in their Unit 1 Test, they pick up the Unit 2 Crossword. It includes Unit 2 vocabulary words. Their task for the remainder of the period is to work on the puzzle. Now you might reasonably wonder how students can work on a crossword filled with terms they have yet to learn.
Therein lies The Lessons of Phyz crosswords difference. My crosswords include a wealth of general knowledge/trivia, general science (planet names, etc.), state nicknames, elements, acronyms and initialism, and pop culture references (Disney, Star Wars, contemporary music, etc.). Students can tear into the crosswords right away. Oh, and review terms from previous units are always fair game.
More surprises. Not only did students devour the crosswords, the students who seemed to enjoy them the most were the ones who struggled the most in the course. I often caught grief from colleagues who complained about my students working on their crosswords in their classes. (I color-coded my handouts: each unit was a different color, in accordance with the spectrum. Unit 1 was pink, 2 salmon, 3 canary, 4 green, 5 blue, 6 lavender; rinse and repeat at semester.) I confess I never admonished my students for working on their crosswords outside of my class.
Now that I've created a few series of crosswords, I thought of an application that hadn't occurred to me before. The first day of school is significant, and warrants above and beyond levels of planning. I never jumped straight into heavy content on Day 1. It was a day devoted to "Physics Begins With an M: Mystery, Magic, and Myths". Essentially a day of unanswered questions. But I didn't leave students with anything to do after the presentation.
Why not give them a crossword for Unit 1 on their first day? The puzzles are by no means a drag, especially with all the off-topic tangents. If anything, I think students would enjoy knocking out the easy clues and pondering the elusive terms yet to be learned.
Here's a post detailing The Lessons of Phyz crossword advantages. It takes me a full day to craft each puzzle. Filling the otherwise empty spaces is quite a process, which is why most teacher-created crosswords you see have enough empty space to grow farm crops.
Here are the crossword puzzle series that I've completed. I've set the first puzzle in each set as free. And I've made an online version of a puzzle from most sets openly accessible. Note: the online puzzles are intended for desktops, laptops, and tablets; they don't play nicely on phones.
Give the crosswords a try as part of your first day of school lesson. It's free, and you might be surprised how well these things land.
Conceptual Physics ( (aligned with Conceptual Physics: High School 2009) · Online Sample
AP Physics 1 and AP Physics 2 (aligned with AP Physics 1 and 2)
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