A Survey of Norwegian Nursing Students’ Responses to Student-Centered Small Group Learning in the Study of Human Anatomy and Physiology

Abstract

Introduction: Small group learning (SGL) is a main learning strategy in the study of bioscience subjects in nursing schools. Objectives: We evaluated Norwegian nursing students’ responses to the student-centered SGL approach in the study of anatomy and physiology (A&P) and tried to determine what aspects educators should improve regarding the use of SGL in the study of biosciences. Methods: A descriptive questionnaire survey was conducted to evaluate Norwegian nursing students’ responses and experiences, for example, motivation, performance, satisfaction, and effectiveness of this new SGL strategy in the study of human A&P. Results: Nursing students showed a high motivation and varied experience, for example, different attendance rates, satisfaction, and effectiveness in response to the student-centered SGL strategy in the study of human A&P. In addition, some students reported a low completion rate of assigned work for each SGL session. Additional concerns were collected in the open-end survey section. Subsequent thematic analysis of these comments identified that SGL arrangement and teacher tutorials were the main themes that needed to be improved in future SGL practice. Conclusions: The information from this survey might provide new insights to educators to understand what and how we should improve the student-centered SGL work in future teaching practice.