Parallels of lived experiences in learning: a scientist learning qualitative research and nurses learning science

Abstract

This article documents my personal experiences in entering research in tertiary teaching and learning. My role as a science academic has included teaching both undergraduate science and nursing students, as well as incorporating scientific research in the discipline of microbiology. Through teaching these two different cohorts of students I have come to realise that they demand different teaching styles and strategies. Previous studies concerning science courses in nursing programs suggested that nursing students have a negative attitude towards the relevance of science in nursing and lack the confidence to study this subject. In an attempt to improve this situation, I have taken the approach of investigating my teaching and learning practices in nurse education by undertaking a comprehensive evaluation of the course, and in doing so I have become more open to learning about new teaching and learning activities. This shift in research experience, from laboratory-based to educational, has produced an interesting parallel. The new experiences and anxieties that I faced in entering a new paradigm of educational research can be seen as analogous to those experienced by my nursing students when studying science in nursing for the first time. This paper provides a personal account of this shift in research and reflects on how my lived experience of entering a new field of research has facilitated the way that I understand how students learn.