Bayley, Carol

Russo, Michael

English

Research Online

Office of  Student Success     Russo – Numeracy Intervention Program Critical Intersections: the 12th Biennial Conference of the Association for Academic Language and Learning University of Wollongong 25th - 27th November 2015 Presented at Office of  Student Success     Numeracy Support for Nursing Students A Program of Intervention Michael Russo – Academic Skills Adviser Coral Bayley – Nursing Lecturer Incorporating the encounter between literacy and numeracy Office of  Student Success     • Students enrol, go to lectures Until recently  .  .  . • Sit for drug calc exam, week 4, 5 or 6 • < 100% = Fail!  • More practice examples  Resit exam  • Fail resit BUT pass all other aspects of course  More practice examples  Resit exam  • Fail resit   Fail unit Office of  Student Success     • Many students cannot perform drug calculations The situation .  .  . • Not only ACU, not only Vic, not only Aus, but many countries • Based on observations, school mathematics seems largely irrelevant • OECD survey: Australia ranked 4 of 23 countries in literacy  but 13th in numeracy  - The Age: Saturday August 29, 2015 p.8 Office of  Student Success     • Diagnostic tool – question items to test specific competencies required to do drug calculations. Musings  .  .  . • Identify students likely to struggle • Identify areas of support needed • Topic-specific workshops  Drug calcs exam  • Fail exam  Further topic specific workshops    Resit exam • Informed by the work of Hutton, as quoted in Wright (2007, 279): A revision program for 184 out of 231 students who scored less than 75% on a 50-item maths test. Office of  Student Success     Adapted from: Educational Studies in Mathematics (2014) 86:253–270 DOI 10.1007/s10649-014-9537-3 Coben and Weeks (2014) hold that the intersection between literacy and numeracy is critical to effective assessment of competence in drug calculations Numeracy and Literacy Benseman, Sutton & Lander (2005) recommend that numeracy should be taught by specialists rather than the lecturer. Office of  Student Success     • Wright (2004): student nurses need both mathematical skills and the ability to conceptualise clinical information to perform drug calculations. • Wright’s 2007 study: important for an intervention program to address both conceptual skills and mathematical ability. • Backed up by Bliss-Holtz (as quoted in Wright (2007, 279)) who found that students made errors either in arithmetic or their understanding of mathematical concepts. • Kerri Wright: University of Greenwich, London, has encountered similar issues in her nursing students. • Our experience: many students made incorrect dosage calculations either through lacking certain mathematical skills or through not understanding exactly what the question was asking. • Review conducted by van de Mortel, Whitehair and Irwin (2014) showed the importance of students’ understanding of terminology and contextual meaning Other studies . . . Office of  Student Success     • Diagnostic tool developed Actions  .  .  . • Enlisted help and advice of Prof. Doug Clarke & assistant researcher • Administered diagnostic “quiz” to 1st & 2nd yr Students • Quiz corrected; feedback results to Lecturers  • Lecturers schedule workshops & encourage students to attend. (Cannot make them compulsory) • Students re-sit exam   improved performance. Office of  Student Success     Sample Questions – First Draft Write one half as a fraction. Which is larger:  23  or 25 ? Arrange in order from smallest to largest: 0.54,  0.6,  0.312 15  ×  23  = 23  × 5 = You have a bottle of 100ml of medicine.  The strength of the medicine is 5mg per 2 ml.  If you give 10ml, how many mg are you giving? 5 : 8  =  x : 20,     x = ?                    (Many students found this difficult) Office of  Student Success     Results  .  .  . Problems involving reading and understanding the question, and deciding which strategy to use to solve the problem or answer the question. Office of  Student Success     • > 60% but < 80%  Attend workshops  Analysis  .  .  . • < 60%  Make an appointment for support • Similar difficulties demonstrated by both 1st & 2nd yr • Areas identified: rounding, conversions, estimating, fractions, ratios, formula substitution • Highest level of maths achieved prior to enrolling not relevant. • > 80%  OK • A significant worsening of results (pro rata) from Yr 1 to Yr 2 Office of  Student Success     Actions  following 1st attempt .  .  . • Organised a series of “numeracy support” sessions before scheduled exam • Reinforced through lectures the availability of and importance of attending, consultation appointments • A “remedial” lecture session the week after scheduled exam • Promoted further revision resources on the LMS and online software tool, to be completed prior to re-sit • First year students were given verbal feedback by email on areas done well and areas needing further consolidation • First year students were directed to set aside time to access the online software tool and work on these areas, along with other on-line resources, such as the Khan Academy. • Session on drug calculations given in the (2nd year) lecture by AS numeracy person Office of  Student Success     Some further results  .  .  . • First year results:  Sem 1 2014  HLSC110 – 93.2% pass rate    • Second year results:  Improved pass rate on first attempt Sem. 1, 2015  Pass rate for the first attempt: 64% which is better than last year   Improved eventual total pass rate 86%  Office of  Student Success     Refinements  .  .  . Wanted to make it more diagnostic Developed wrong answer options for each question, based on variety of wrong answers encountered when correcting previous attempts Considered how students might think “mistakenly” to arrive at wrong answer – not just random incorrect answers ACER personnel ratified the answer options, hence the design of the quiz Quiz A and Quiz B developed Decided on a Multiple Choice version – wrong answers would indicate what specific skill needed improving Office of  Student Success     • Completion of diagnostic quiz a hurdle task. Possibilities  .  .  . • For those who need it, workshops compulsory – attendance marked. • Develop worksheets to be completed as hurdle task – on line or hard copies • Failure on drug calcs exam  compulsory to make an appointment for AS support  • Completion of diagnostic quiz again at end of semester   map improvement • Target 2nd year students only • Long term project   record results each semester over 3 – 4 years • Publish project description, results, findings  Education & Nursing Journals Office of  Student Success     Most recent results . . . • Second year results: Improved pass rate on first attempt (Sem.2 , 2015)  The total pass rate is 63%   That is an improvement from 50%  (previous years).  Improved eventual total pass rate 93% Office of  Student Success     26 7 67 180 127 120 43 144 020406080100120140160180200Language Money DecimalRoundingUnit Conversion Estimation Ops withFractionsCapacity ProptnlReasoningProblem Areas:Analysis of Problem Areas – 1st Year students Sem1, 2015 (Group A) Office of  Student Success     Analysis of Problem Areas – 1st Year students Sem1, 2015 (Group B) 16 13 55 156 137 121 33 162 020406080100120140160180Language Money DecimalRoundingUnit Conversion Estimation Ops withFractionsCapacity ProptnlReasoningProblem Areas:Office of  Student Success     New Initiatives  .  .  . Generic workshops, online and video resources for different platforms (PC, tablet, smartphone) in • Problem solving • Algebra • Unit conversions • Critical reading of graphs/tables • Terminology • Ratio and proportion being developed, refined and scheduled for introduction in 2016. Academic Skills UnitWorkshopTerminologyExamples: (Click on image) Office of  Student Success     Benseman, J., Sutton, A., & Lander, J. (2005). Working in the Light of Evidence, as Well as Aspiration: A Literature Review of the Best Available Evidence about Effective Adult Literacy, Numeracy and Language Teaching. Online Submission. Coben, D., & Weeks, K. (2014). Meeting the mathematical demands of the safety-critical workplace: medication dosage calculation problem-solving for nursing. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 86(2), 253-270. Van de Mortel, T., Whitehair, P. & Irwin, P. (2014) A whole-of-curriculum approach to improving nursing students’ applied numeracy skills. Nurse Education Today 34,   462 – 467. References Office of  Student Success     Wright, K. (2004). Maths for student nurses: an investigation into strategies used to improve their skills. British Journal of Nursing 13 (21), 1280 – 1287. Wright, K. (2007). Student nurses need more than maths to improve their drug calculating skills. Nurse Education Today 27, 278 – 285. References Office of  Student Success     Watch this space  .  .  . 

Numeracy support for nursing students, incorporating the encounter between literacy and numeracy - a program of intervention

https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1047&amp;context=aall2015

Numeracy support for nursing students, incorporating the encounter between literacy and numeracy - a program of intervention

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