ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES IN CLASSROOM TEACHING

202 Pages·2012·0.66 MB·English

ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES IN CLASSROOM TEACHING:

PRACTICES OF ASSOCIATE DEGREE NURSE EDUCATORS

IN A SOUTHERN STATE

by

KAREN NABORS

LINDA DUNN, COMMITTEE CHAIR
BECKY ATKINSON
DAVID HARDY
AARON KUNTZ
ROY ANN SHERROD

A DISSERTATION

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Education
in the Department of Educational Leadership,
Policy, and Technology Studies
in the Graduate School of
the University of Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA

2012
Copyright Karen Nabors 2012
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ABSTRACT
The complex role of today’s nurses warrants higher levels of critical thinking and clinical
judgment skills. Critical thinking is recognized as an essential component of nursing practice by
the National League for Nursing (NLN). Nursing graduates must be prepared to practice as
competent healthcare professionals in a highly complex, diverse, and ever-changing
environment. Critical thinking is crucial to providing safe, competent, and skillful nursing
practice. Important decisions related to patient care require nurses to master critical thinking
skills. Critical thinking skills can be developed with practice. Nurse educators are obligated to
create learning environments that support critical thinking. Not only is it important what
students learn, but equally important is how they learn. Traditional teaching methods should be
transformed to improve learning experiences and facilitate lifelong learning. Teaching strategies
that involve experience by “doing” and dialogue with “others” will promote more significant
learning. There is a lack of evidence of consistent teaching methods among nurse educators.
Nursing graduates with an associate degree outnumber those with a bachelor’s degree but overall
do not perform as well on the nurse licensure exam as baccalaureate graduates. The purpose of
this dissertation research was to examine which teaching methods community college associate
degree nurse (ADN) educators in a southern state were utilizing in the classroom to enhance
student learning and develop critical thinking in nursing students enrolled in fundamentals and/or
medical-surgical nursing courses. The researcher sought to answer six research questions: 1)
What teaching strategies are community college associate degree nurse educators who teach
fundamentals and medical-surgical nursing courses using in the classroom to enhance student
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learning and develop critical thinking? 2) What barriers are encountered when utilizing ALS in
the nursing classroom? 3) What are the perceived benefits of utilizing ALS in the nursing
classroom? 4) Is there a difference in the frequency of utilization of teaching strategies that
involve experience by “doing” and experience by “observing”? 5) Is there a difference in the
frequency of utilization of teaching strategies that involve dialogue with “self” and dialogue with
“others”? 6) What is the perceived effectiveness of teaching strategies used by associate degree
nurse educators in the classroom to enhance student learning and develop critical thinking?
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to express my appreciation to my committee chair, Dr. Linda Dunn, and to
my committee members, Dr. Becky Atkinson, Dr. David Hardy, Dr. Aaron Kuntz, and Dr. Roy
Ann Sherrod. Thank you for your patience and guidance in helping me reach my goal.
I would like to express my appreciation to Michael Walker for his assistance in
conducting the statistical tests for my study.
I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Rick Houser for his recommendations and
guidance in the statistical analyses of this study. Dr. Houser, I appreciate your willingness to
take time out of your busy schedule to help me. You’re awesome!
I would like to express my gratitude to Sherri Edwards, my editor and typist. Sherri, you
helped me in a tremendous way.
I would like to express my gratitude to Laura Ballard for all of her assistance and
encouragement over the last five years. Laura, you’re the best!
I would like to express my appreciation to my program chair, Mary Jo, and to my
colleagues, Allison, Brandy, Pam, and Sarah, for their words of encouragement and the many
“little ways” they helped me through this journey. A special thanks to Allison who has been
with me from the start.
Above all, I would like to express my love and appreciation to my family who have
always encouraged and believed in me--my husband, Kenneth, my daughter Kendra, my son
Kellen, and my parents Daniel and Dorothy Fields.

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CONTENTS
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iv
LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... ix
1 INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................1
Today’s Students ..................................................................................................................4
Traditional Strategies ...........................................................................................................6
Non-traditional Strategies ....................................................................................................8
Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................................9
Problem Statement .............................................................................................................12
Purpose of the Study ..........................................................................................................12
Significance........................................................................................................................13
Research Questions ............................................................................................................15
Assumptions .......................................................................................................................16
Limitations/Delimitations ..................................................................................................16
Limitations ...................................................................................................................16
Delimitations ................................................................................................................18
Definitions..........................................................................................................................18
Summary ............................................................................................................................19
2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE ..................................................................................................21
Higher Education ...............................................................................................................22
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History of Associate Degree Nursing ................................................................................23
Nursing Facts .....................................................................................................................25
Nursing Shortage .........................................................................................................25
Basic Nurse Education .................................................................................................25
Employment .................................................................................................................26
Licensure ......................................................................................................................27
Accreditation ................................................................................................................29
Critical Thinking ................................................................................................................29
Active Learning .................................................................................................................31
General Education ..............................................................................................................34
Cooperative Learning ...................................................................................................34
Role Play ......................................................................................................................36
Games ..........................................................................................................................37
One-Minute Paper ........................................................................................................37
Debate ..........................................................................................................................38
Clickers ........................................................................................................................39
Engineering Education .......................................................................................................39
Problem-based Learning (PBL) ...................................................................................40
Case Study ...................................................................................................................43
Scenarios ......................................................................................................................45
Interactive Lectures ......................................................................................................46
Simulation ....................................................................................................................48
Medical Education .............................................................................................................50
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Team Learning .............................................................................................................51
Simulation ....................................................................................................................51
Audience Response Systems........................................................................................54
Nursing Education .............................................................................................................55
Problem-based Learning, Experiential Learning, Cooperative Learning, and
Team-based Learning ...................................................................................................56
Classroom Response Systems (CRS) and Gaming ......................................................67
Simulation and Role Play.............................................................................................76
Argument Mapping, Concept Mapping, and Case Study ............................................82
Summary ............................................................................................................................87
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................90
Introduction ........................................................................................................................90
Design ................................................................................................................................90
Participants .........................................................................................................................93
Materials ............................................................................................................................94
Procedures ..........................................................................................................................96
Results ................................................................................................................................98
Summary ..........................................................................................................................101
4 RESULTS ..............................................................................................................................102
Sample..............................................................................................................................102
Demographic Data ...........................................................................................................104
Summary ..........................................................................................................................123
5 DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................125
Findings............................................................................................................................126
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Research Question 1 ..................................................................................................127
Research Question 2 ..................................................................................................130
Research Question 3 ..................................................................................................132
Research Question 4 ..................................................................................................133
Research Question 5 ..................................................................................................137
Research Question 6 ..................................................................................................139
Limitations .......................................................................................................................140
Implications for Nursing Education .................................................................................141
Recommendations ............................................................................................................143
Final Thoughts .................................................................................................................145
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................146
APPENDICES:
A A MODEL OF ACTIVE LEARNING ............................................................................161
B LETTER TO DEANS/DIRECTORS ...............................................................................163
C PROGRAM CONSENT ..................................................................................................165
D DEANS/DIRECTORS EMAIL REMINDER .................................................................167
E REQUEST FOR FACULTY EMAIL ADDRESSES ......................................................169
F FACULTY RECRUITMENT E-MAIL LETTER ...........................................................171
G WEB SURVEY LETTER TO FACULTY MEMBERS .................................................173
H INFORMED CONSENT .................................................................................................176
I SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE ........................................................................................180
J FACULTY E-MAIL REMINDER/THANK YOU .........................................................185
K APPROVAL LETTER FROM MISSISSIPPI DEANS AND DIRECTORS ..................187
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L IRB APPROVAL LETTER .............................................................................................189
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