COMPARISON OF INTERACTIVE EFFECTS OF COGNITIVE STYLE, GPA AND TEACHING METHODOLOGY IN NURSING CONTENT AREA (LEARNING STYLE, PSI, LECTURE).
Contributors: West Virginia University.
Published: 1984
Number of pages: 150
Subjects: Education, Higher.
Description: The purpose of this study was to investigate the interaction of the student's cognitive style and his cumulative GPA on exam performance, three month retention of knowledge and his evaluation of the instructional method, PSI or lecture.

Seventy-five (75) senior nursing students enrolled in Concept of Critical Care Nursing during the fall semester of 1983 at an Eastern Land Grant University participated in the study. They were administered the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) as a measure of cognitive style. A median score was then done on their GEFT and on their cumulative GPA. Students were then randomly assigned from each of these four groups to one of the two teaching methodologies--PSI or lecture. The experimental treatment period covered the first four weeks of the semester. Both classes were taught by the investigator. The objectives were identical for both groups--only the instructional method differed. At the end of the four weeks, the subjects took the same examination and a questionnaire that ascertained their evaluation of the instructional method. The subjects took the same examination again approximately three months later.

Analyses of variance were used to test the null hypothesis of no significant differences on examination scores, three month retention and evaluation of teaching method attributable to cognitive style, cumulative GPA and teaching methodology.

There was a significant main effect for teaching methodology with students in the PSI condition scoring higher on the exam and rating that method more highly than those in lecture. There was also a significant main effect for cumulative GPA. Students with higher GPAs scored higher in both teaching conditions. There was no significant interaction between cognitive style, cumulative GPA and teaching methodology. While the PSI students scored higher on the three month retention exam, it was not a significant difference.

It was concluded that Personalized System of Instruction is a powerful instructional method that results in higher examination scores and higher satisfaction with the method than lecture. It was a method that helps all students regardless of cognitive style or cumulative GPA.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-05, Section: A, page: 1311.

Thesis (ED.D.)--WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY, 1984.

School code: 0256.