THE EFFECTS OF TWO TYPES OF PREINSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES ON TWO LEVELS OF COGNITIVE LEARNING FROM A WRITTEN STUDY UNIT FOR UNDERGRADUATE NURSING STUDENTS (ADVANCE ORGANIZERS, BLOOM'S TAXONOMY, BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVES, NURSING EDUCATION, LABORATORY TESTS).

Description

This experimental study investigated whether an expository alone, or in combination with behavioral objectives, would increase learning not only at a lower (recall and comprehension), but also at higher cognitive levels (application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation), of Bloom's taxonomy. A sample of 106 baccalaureate nursing students were randomly assigned to four treatment groups and given different versions of preinstructional strategies before reading a study unit on the nursing implications of coagulation tests. The four different versions contained behavioral objectives and/or an expository organizer which focused on the conceptual basis of the coagulation process. One version had the context of the expository organizer embedded in the text to extinguish its potency as a preinstructional strategy. After reading the study unit, subjects completed a multiple choice posttest on content of the unit. Total scores and subscores for lower and higher order cognitive questions were the dependent variables. A combination of behavioral objectives and an expository organizer produced an educationally significant increase in total scores when compared with the strategy of an expository organizer alone, or with the strategy of behavioral objectives with the content of the expository organizer embedded in the text. Compared with the strategy of behavioral objectives alone, the combination strategy showed a slight increase in total scores, not quite educationally significant. The hypothesis that an expository organizer alone would be effective for higher order questions was not supported. Behavioral objectives alone, were more effective than expository organizers alone, for both lower and higher order questions. However, when the expository organizer was combined with behavioral objectives there was a small increase in scores for both lower and higher order questions. The potency of the expository organizer was lost when embedded in the text. Results support continued use of behavioral objectives as effective aids to readers of study units. Because addition of an expository organizer as another preinstructional strategy promoted some additional cognitive learning, particularly at lower cognitive levels, a combination of the two is recommended.

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