NONPF 39th Annual Meeting
The new landmark book, How Learning Works: 7 Research-based Principles for Smart Teaching (Ambrose et.al 2010), provides the framework for this presentation. The seven principles are based on 50 years of research to synthesize how faculty can use the science of learning to enhance their work. These principles include: 1) Students’ prior knowledge can help or hinder learning; 2) How students organize knowledge influences how they learn and apply what they know; 3) Students’ motivation determines, directs, and sustains what they do to learn; 4) To develop mastery, students must acquire component skills, practice integrating them, and know when to apply what they have learned; 5) Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted feedback enhances the quality of student’s learning; 6 ) Students’ current level of development interacts with the social, emotional, and intellectual climate of the course to impact learning; and 7) To become self-directed learners, students must learn to monitor and adjust their approaches to learning. This presentation includes exemplars of the seven principles utilized in courses about practice inquiry. Practice Inquiry can be the most challenging for DNP students who may come with misconceptions about learning research content.
The following examples highlight teaching strategies to demonstrate Ambrose et al 2010 principles one and two as outlined above. At the beginning of the course prior to students review of the course syllabus, implement a small group exercise in which students create a table of contents for an Evidence Based Practice text book. During the first class, use clickers to obtain student responses to questions about misconceptions, barriers, and fears about evidence-based practice. To emphasize the diversity of approaches to create evidence tables on current treatments and interventions, students bring an exemplar to class from their specialty. Students work in small groups to identify strengths and weakness of the various evidence tables and select the strongest example to present to their peers. Targeted faculty feedback during student presentations will facilitate student understanding of appropriate application of different types of evidence tables across practice settings.
Supported by funds from Health Resources and Services Administration grant number DO9HP07344
