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U N I V E R S I T Y O F P I T T S B U R G H |
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A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh |
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U N I V E R S I T Y O F P I T T S B U R G H |
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A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh |
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Making Research ‘Real’By Willa Doswell, Nursing
Undergraduate and graduate research courses are generally not enthusiastically received by nursing students. Research is often viewed as abstract, something they won’t be involved in as it seems far removed from the clinical practice they encounter daily. To address this problem, I met with a CIDDE instructional designer in an effort to make nursing research more real. As a result, I implemented several teaching strategies to make the subject come more alive for students. Lectures on research ethics frequently appear dry and boring to students, so to supplement one unit, I had students view the video Ms. Evers’ Boys, Hollywood’s version of the well-known Tuskegee syphilis experiment. I gave the students a worksheet to complete as they watched the movie in order to focus their attention on aspects relevant to the course objectives. Then in class, I showed a video of an interview with one of the remaining physicians from the experiment; this exposed racial prejudice and exploitation of study participants in a marked way. I also invited two University professors to visit class to share pro/con views of the study. This strategy resulted in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter attending the class and a great deal of frank discussion by class members, with tears and ethos expressed by many as part of their outrage at the nature of this experiment. Another strategy was introduced to integrate guest speaker presentations more effectively with course goals and objectives. Students were provided with a “talking points” document that guided them in focusing on a select number of succinct points made by guest lecturers, instead of becoming distracted by details of the research presentation that were not relevant to their course objectives. This resulted in focused, rich discussions in the class and, ultimately, in achievement of the class learning objectives. A third teaching strategy I implemented was the “Instrument Round Robin” to enable students to learn of similarities and differences between a variety of paper and pencil instruments used to measure a study variable. Students walked around five tables, completing each instrument during a prescribed time period before moving to the next. Students appreciated the musical chairs effect of this learning strategy, and were better able to appreciate the different instrument forms for collecting research information.
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A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh |
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