Addressing Obstacles to Success: What science do midwives and nurses really need?

"Addressing Obstacles to Success" is a collaborative project between various schools at Wintec and the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) and funded by the Teaching Learning Research Initiative Fund. It investigates factors that impact on student completion, retention and achievement rates in the science modules in applied health programmes at Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec) with specific attention to Maori students. The project builds on previous research which showed that students experienced science as difficult and time-consuming, and student results reflected this (Gibson, et al., 2005). The aims of the project are not only to gain an understanding of the epistemological and pedagogical issues, but also to find new ways to include the essential science, without making this an obstacle to overall module success. The research project is structured around a mixed method design and consists of two phases. Phase One (2006) of the research project gathered data from focus group interviews to determine the relevant science content for undergraduate nursing and midwifery programmes. The regionally based focus groups collected perspectives from midwifery and nursing clinical educators and recently registered midwives and nurses, about their work and the perceived science/practice links. Phase Two (2007) involves the development, piloting and evaluation of an intervention for science modules, using the prioritised content from Phase One. The aim being to enhance the contextualisation of science, to avoid content overload and help students make more meaningful theory/practice links. The long term aim is to improve completion rates in science modules through improved science literacy. This paper describes how key science aspects in nursing practice were identified (Phase One) and then translated into the planning and intervention of science teaching in the first year of the Bachelor of Nursing Programme (Phase Two)