Abstract:

Nursing studies involve a high degree of practical work performed by the students, although in many cases the classes are oriented to theoretical-practical learning based on the repetition of the teacher behavior by students. Although, in the field of cures or surgical interventions, the nurse must correctly learn the procedures that must be carried out through observation and repetition, there are subjects that enable other types of learning in which the student becomes the main actor. One such example is the Microbiology subject taught at the Nursing degree from Universitat Jaume I. From the beginning of the implementation of this degree, one of the laboratory practical work included in this subject is based on an experimental design proposed by the students. The experimental design is based on microbiological studies of the environment. The students need to raise a problem, establish a hypothesis and develop an experiment to check whether their hypothesis is true or not. During the experimentation, data collection and analysis will be carried out followed by a discussion of the results which will help the students to determine whether the starting hypothesis was true or not. For this purpose, students are divided into groups of four. Each group has to propose the study, which after being evaluated by the responsible teachers, must be completed with an experimental design, in which the members of the group, themselves, will propose how to carry out the collection of samples, how to process them and how to evaluate them. All these steps will be performed under the surveillance of the teachers. However, the role of the teachers in this case is that of a mere guide so that design failures do not occur and that the students can conveniently perform the laboratory methodology.

With this kind of laboratory practical work, several objectives are achieved:
1- the students are involved in team work, since from the beginning an interaction between all the members of the group is needed;
2- due to the fact that from the beginning is a requirement for the students to provide ideas, this type of experiences can be considered as significant learning;
3- the application of the scientific method can help the students to propose solutions to problems that may arise later during their student life as well as in as in their professional life.

The students become very much involved as highlighted by the proposed experimental designs.

These designs are creative and interesting, ranging from the study of the microbiota present in different hospital rooms, the study of the microbiota of different sections of the Mijares river (birth, before the treatment plant and after it). Several of the works have been presented at the Research Conference for students of Health Sciences from the university and published in the Agora Salud journal. Overall, students are satisfied with the results obtained and with the learning achieved as reflected in their grades and in the results obtained by the teachers after their evaluation by the students.

Keywords:

Experimental design, nursery studies, microbiology.