A Comparison of Different Teaching Methods on Fundamental Nursing Course Among Nursing College Students

Monday, 30 July 2012

Yu-Ching Tu, MSN, RN1
Hsiu-Hung Wang, RN, PhD, FAAN1
Yi-Jung Lin, MSN, RN2
(1)College of Nursing, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
(2)Department of Nursing, Shu-Zen College of Medicine and Management, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to understand that integrated-like and practiced-like teaching methods provided distinct contribution to mid-range group and low-range students, respectively.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to understand that the best effective teaching is based on recognizing the trait of students as a top priority.

Purpose:  The comprehensive survey of the nursing education teaching is often used in class lectures.  The objective of this study was to consider whether integrated-like (students compiled and organized the important contents on fundamental nursing course) and practiced-like (students practiced and were familiar with the questions of nurse-license exams on fundamental nursing course) methods would be:(1) A great benefit to the students’ academic performance;(2) A difference in the students’ academic performance between the two classes;(3) An influence on the students' academic performance on the each of three groups (high-range, mid-range, and low-range) between the two classes.

Methods: This study was a longitudinal analysis using three separate tests practice question examination sheet.  The subjects were eighty-four senior students in two classes at a nursing school in southern Taiwan, taught by two instructors using different teaching methods.  They were selected via random sampling.  The statistics of both the Mixed model of repeated measure and two-way ANOVA by using the software SPSS 19.0 version were applied to analyze data and to execute the mutual evaluation between students’ academic performance and teacher’s teaching method.

Results: (1) The students in both classes significantly improved their examination scores; (2) As for the examination scores, there was no notable difference between the two teaching methods; (3) The mid-range group and low-range group performed better on examination scores under integrated-like teaching and practiced-like teaching, respectively.

Conclusion: Either integrated-like or practiced-like methods prove useful as teaching methods as evidenced by the students’ improved scores in both classes.  The different teaching methods provided distinct contribution to different range students between the two classes.