Designing and evaluating an instructional exercise as a supplement to the Fluids & Electrolytes lecture

First year nursing students repeatedly have difficulty recalling, understanding, and applying knowledge from the Fluids & Electrolytes (F&E) class. Although the traditional teaching method of lecturing is appropriate in a situation of knowledge acquisition, this situation refers to a broader context. An alternate teaching method is needed to increase students' understanding of the previously acquired knowledge and its application. This research concerns gaming as a tool for teaching with the focus on process as well as product. An instructional exercise, in the Jeopardy format, is designed to incorporate understanding (through problem-solving), group collaboration, and metacognition. Constructivist philosophy is combined with Instructional Design to construct an exercise that focuses not only on knowledge recall, but also emphasizes thinking, understanding, and the reflective nature of the exercise. The focus of this research is to design and evaluate an exercise as a supplemental teaching method to the lecture presentation of the F&E class.