The effect of jigsaw technique on nursing students' psychomotor skill levels, academic success and information retention

Objective: The study was aimed to determine the effect of the Jigsaw Technique on the psychomotor skill levels in local drug application, academic achievements and information retention; and the opinions of first year nursing students who took the Nursing Fundamentals I Course on the Jigsaw Technique. Method: The research was carried out in semi-experimental design between September 2018 and April 2019. Jigsaw Technique was used to train the experimental group students taking the Nursing Fundamentals I course (n = 49) about the Local Drug Application. Control group students (n = 49) were taught with traditional learning methods. Data was collected using "Student Information Form", "Local Drug Application Questionnaire", "Skill Evaluation Form", "Jigsaw Opinion Scale" and "Kolb Learning Style Inventory-III". Percentage, frequency, independent sample t test, One Way Variance Analysis (ANOVA) were used in data analysis. Results: The Local Drug Application knowledge score averages of the experimental group students were 64.72 ± 11.66, and the control group students were 65.89 ± 13.13. The difference between the skill assessment scores of the intervention and control group students was found to be statistically significant (p <0.05). In first and second tests to determine information retention, the retention score averages of the experimental group students were significantly higher than the mean scores of the control group students (p <0.05). The average score of the students' Jigsaw Opinion Scale was 55.80 ± 7.49, and the students reported positive opinions regarding this technique. Conclusion: Study results revealed that Jigsaw Technique is an effective teaching method to improve the psychomotor skill levels of first year nursing students and to increase knowledge retention. Key words: nursing education, cooperative learning, jigsaw technique, skills assessment, information retention