Quiz quest for Ternopil State Medical University international students

For TSMU international students the first day of summer holidays  started with an exciting quiz quest. Ternopil State Medical University lecturers came up with a number of interesting challenges for the participants in the game.

Representatives of Nigeria, Ghana, Poland, India, Egypt and other countries made 5 teams of 6 students each. The quest started near office of the dean for international students, where team captains got their assignments. They had to collect all the pieces to a puzzle to arrive at the finish line. The students had to rush from department to department and also work their intellectual capabilities. The lecturers of Ukrainian language, biology, chemistry, philosophy, anatomy, and histology each offered to complete tasks. This allowed the young people to see their teachers from a different angle, to find out about their creativity and experience heartfelt cheers.

At the finish line, which was located near the main city clock, the teams got their final task, which was to ask Ternopil residents to translate Latin sayings into Ukrainian and write them down. Other tasks required the students to find the “heart” of Medical University (Rector’s office), find departments where one could look through a microscope, plunge into the depths of the earth,  find out chromosome count and learn the terms “autoinvasion”, “anthroponosis”, “dehelmintization.” Additionally, they looked for a department which makes silver mirror, the largest store of books, a department with the largest equipment to investigate the smallest objects, and more.

“This event was conceived by the students from Nigeria and Ghana. They wanted us to hold competitions and quiz games after exams, when everyone has more time. Yesterday they passed exams and so today we organized a quest which requires the use of theoretical knowledge as well as practical skills. They have completed all the tasks successfully. One that caused some difficulty was finding the library, because young people today than reading e-books, but we will take it into account for the next school year and will thoroughly acquaint freshmen with the library “- said Associate Professor of the Department of Histology and Embryology Andriy Dovbush.

Students from Poland won the competition, the runners up by a small point difference were the international team which included representatives of India, Germany and Egypt. All participants were awarded certificates, and the winners also received books that will be useful in their study of practical medicine.

“We got a lot of experience in finding departments and completing tasks. For me it was a new experiment. I never participated in such events. It would be very good if there were similar events each semester and more students got involved. This makes it easier to get acquainted with the University and gain new knowledge. I want to thank the organizers for such an exiting holiday and a good incentive for further study “- shared his impressions first year student representative Brian from Ghana.

The captain of international team Varsha from India noted that all tasks were extremely interesting. And most important, in her view, was that the competition helped everyone become friends.

“We saw the limits of what we know and now can strive to reach on. This is a good beginning of the holidays. We received a lot of positive impressions. We had to work closely together with friends and now understand each other better, “- added Anna from Poland.

A student from Nigeria Magret was a little surprised by the game format. “I was sure that we would all sit in the study hall and solve the tasks. In reality, we had to participate in active competitions. And I liked it. This changed my vision of how to learn. I liked this interactive form, because you need to physically move while thinking. It is very interesting. I will gladly take part in a quest again because it made clear another important thing – the importance of team play “- summed up Magret.