Studies show nursing students experience significant maths anxiety (MA) (Bull 2009; McMullan, Jones and Lea 2012); this is the ‘fear or an adverse emotional response to the idea of doing mathematics’ (Hart and Ganley 2019, p. 122). As MA is correlated with lower maths performance in nurses (Bull 2009), Dr Katie Woodhouse-Skinner (Academic Skills and Statistics Tutor) and Hannah Glenn (Senior Lecturer in Adult Nursing), wanted to know whether they, as university healthcare academics and library academic support working at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), could work together to reduce MA in the healthcare curriculum, using alternative pedagogies to develop students’ confidence in evaluating and undertaking research. In this Take5 #118, Katie and Hannah from NTU, share their research findings.
Hannah (Senior Lecturer in Adult Nursing, NTU)
Hannah leads an Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) module within a healthcare ‘top-up’ degree programme in which MA impacts students’ ability to conduct and evaluate quantitative research. Students on this module are registered healthcare professionals including Nurses, Midwives, and Operating Department Practitioners from a diverse cohort of ‘mature students’ (NTU, 2021). While active learning methods like clinical simulation are common in healthcare education (Harris and Bacon, 2019), research teaching retains a primarily didactic and less engaging approach (Ning et al., 2010).
Katie (Academic Skills and Statistics Tutor, NTU Library)
Katie works in NTU’s Library Learning and Teaching Team to support students across all subjects and levels to develop understanding of statistics. Many students engaging with our service also report high levels of MA. As MA has been linked with didactic teaching approaches (Das 2013), Katie’s 1-2-1s and teaching sessions utilise varied pedagogies like Team Based Learning (TBL) and Game Based Learning (GBL) to help make learning statistics more active, practical, and engaging.
Our Co-Design Approach
Applying these same pedagogies, Hannah and Katie co-designed a new ‘intervention day’ on her EBP module. This day aimed to build confidence in, and understanding of, quantitative healthcare research methods and statistics. We adopted a four-stage approach:
Stage 1: Chunk content delivery
Stage 2: Check understanding using GBL
Stage 3: Apply knowledge in subject-based scenarios using TBL
Stage 4: Reflect on the efficacy of application
What did this look like in practice?
Initially, Hannah gave critical context to the importance of research methods in clinical settings, whilst Katie covered the key principles of statistics and hypothesis testing. Throughout, content was chunked, and interspersed with GBL strategies such as individual polls and team scenario- based challenges to check understanding.
Using TBL, students then created, piloted and evaluated surveys, working in teams and assigning themselves roles. Each team was given a clinical research scenario devised by Hannah, and instructed to develop a research question, hypothesis, and survey according to the principles of quality quantitative research set out earlier in the day. Once completed, students were then asked to pilot each other’s surveys. Students gave feedback from two perspectives, first, imagining they were completing the survey as research participants, and secondly, from a research perspective in terms of how well each team addressed their research questions and hypothesis.
After the teams had piloted all the surveys, and before they could view feedback form the other students, we asked the students to reflect on and re-evaluate their own survey using their newfound criticality.
Key Takeaways
Our approach fostered a supportive environment, which student feedback reported was interactive, engaging, and confidence-boosting. Many noted the session alleviated fears around maths and quantitative research methods, expressing an interest in similar sessions in future. The intervention empowered students, built their confidence in quantitative skills, and enhanced their overall engagement in the subject.
Combining the library’s statistics expertise with the module lead’s clinical insight allowed us to create a dynamic and active learning experience to address MA and enhance healthcare research teaching a subject historically known for didactic delivery. This emphasises the importance of co-design and collaboration with library and academic staff, using varied pedagogies to support active learning in healthcare research design.
Reference List
Bull, H., 2009. Identifying math anxiety in student nurses and focusing remedial work. Journal of Further and Higher Education [online], 33 (1), pp. 71– 81. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03098770802638689 [Accessed 07/11/2024].
Das, R, and Chandra Das, G., 2018. Math Anxiety: The Poor Problem-Solving Factor in School Mathematics. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications [online], 3 (4), pp.1-5. Available at: https://www.ijsrp.org/research-paper-0413.php?rp=P161105 [Accessed 07/11/2024].
Hart, S. A. and Ganley, C. M., 2019. The Nature of Maths Anxiety in Adults: Prevalence and Correlates. Journal of Numerical Cognition [Online], 5 (2), pp. 122-139. Accessed at: https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v5i2.195 [Accessed 07/11/2024].
McMullan, M., Jones, R and Lea, S., 2012. Math anxiety, self-efficacy, and ability in British undergraduate nursing students. Research in Nursing & Health [Online], 35 (2), pp. 178-186. Accessed at: https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.21460 [Accessed 07/11/2024].
Ning, M., Murphy, P. and Jinks, A. M., 2010. Research engagement and attitudes to teaching research to healthcare students: a questionnaire study of healthcare educators. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 34(4), pp.537-556. Accessed at: https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2010.512081 [Accessed 07/11/2024]
Nottingham Trent University (2021) Support for Mature Students [Online]. Available from: Support for mature students (ntu.ac.uk) [Accessed: 21/10/2024].
Dr Katie Woodhouse-Skinner (NTU Library)
Dr Katie Woodhouse-Skinner is an Academic Skills and Statistics Tutor in NTU Library’s Academic Engagement Team: Learning and Teaching, who is passionate about UDL. Our team’s offer includes supporting students from a range of backgrounds across all levels and subjects through workshops, 1-2-1s, and embedded teaching, as well as the student mentor scheme which includes our Knowledge Boosters targeting students who sit within success for all criteria. Applying the principles of UDL, our service has recently re-designed our online pages to help personalise student learning and academic skills support. Since publication, Katie has moved into NTU Library’s sister team that support researchers, The Academic Engagement Team: Open Research.
Hannah Glenn (Senior Lecturer)
Hannah is a registered adult nurse with clinical experience predominantly in acute and emergency medicine. She has worked in healthcare Higher Education for 4 years, with her last 2 years leading the BSc/MSc Leading and Innovating Course at NTU in the Institute of Health and Allied Professions team. Hannah leads research-focussed modules on this course, as well as supporting students across levels 4-7 in various pre- and post-registration healthcare programmes. She is passionate about enhancing active learning in healthcare research teaching.
