Abstract

The primary purpose of this quantitative study was threefold: (1) to compare the effectiveness of two instructional methods of teaching on transferring problem solving; (2) to identify the effect a student's learning style has on problem solving; and (3) determine whether an interaction exists between each of two instructional methods and the student's learning style that effects the problem solving ability of beginning nursing students enrolled in a nursing pharmacology course in a four-year baccalaureate (B.S.N.) nursing program. The content area was pharmacology for nurses, taught at the sophomore level in a 4-year program. A convenience sample consisted of 48 adult nursing students in two different sections of a required pharmacology course in one B.S.N. program. The teaching methods studied were lecture/discussion and experiential/active methodology. The sample consisted of two groups, one taught by lecture-discussion (n = 25) and the other taught by the experiential method (n = 23). A pretest, posttest design using a faculty made 30-item objective test in pharmacology content was used to measure problem solving ability. The learning style of the students in both groups was assessed using the Learning Styles Inventory (LSI) developed by David Kolb. The theoretical foundation for the study was drawn from the work of Jerome Bruner, Jean Piaget, Shirley Schriver, and John Clark.

Non-parametric statistics were used to test for statistically significant differences in the two groups in the study. A two-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to investigate the effect of teaching methods, learning styles, and an interaction of method and learning style on problem solving.

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 9900951; ProQuest document ID: 304426696. The author still retains copyright.

Author Details

Karen B. Hill, PhD, MN, BS, RN

Sigma Membership

Non-member

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Quasi-Experimental Study, Other

Research Approach

Quantitative Research

Keywords:

Instructional Methods, Learning Styles, Nursing Education, Pharmacology Courses, Problem-Solving Skills

Advisor

Wilma S. Longstreet

Second Advisor

Charles S. Gifford

Third Advisor

Jeffrey Oescher

Fourth Advisor

MaryLou Dantonio

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

University of New Orleans

Degree Year

1998

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2022-05-04

Full Text of Presentation

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