Incomplete or Incorrect Understanding of Decimals: An Important Deficit for Student Nurses (original) (raw)
In this study more than 40% of the 355 student nurses who completed a pre-test, involving comparisons of decimal numbers, made errors that indicate an incomplete or incorrect conceptual understanding. This includes students who are sometimes able to achieve 100% on drug calculations tests. Seven test items with error rates of between 10% and 26% form the focus of our discussion. A sub-group of the students attended a one-hour remedial intervention using various physical materials to give conceptual meaning to decimal numbers. A matched post-test three months after the intervention, detected a statistically significant improvement for the intervention students but not for those who only practiced drug calculation procedures. Conceptual teaching for number sense is needed to underpin procedures.
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