Abstract
Addictions studies in higher education have a long history of meeting the demands of society and ensuring the quality of education for addiction treatment counselors. The purpose of this study was to compare students' achievement gains and attitudes using traditional (lecture-based) teaching methods and problem-based learning (PBL) techniques in an addiction studies class.
The study utilized 34 students enrolled in an undergraduate, upper-level addiction studies course. Pretest/posttest achievement scores, a student satisfaction assessment survey, and classroom research were used to compare attitude and achievement gain differences between the two groups.
A pretest/posttest was administered to both the experimental (PBL) and control (traditional) groups. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to determine whether significant differences existed in students' achievement gains between the two groups. The independent variable was group membership (experimental or control group) and the dependent variable was the mean scores on the posttest that were appropriately adjusted using pretest scores as the covariate.
The student satisfaction assessment course survey utilized t tests for independent means to compare attitudes between the two student groups. A separate t test for independent means was used to compare the mean score on each scaled attitude item between the experimental and control groups. In addition, students were invited to make comments in an open-ended format. Naturalistic techniques and descriptive statistics were used to report the findings.
Results of this study showed that students did not respond well to PBL and preferred a lecture-based format. Students' pretest mean scores indicated that the experimental (PBL) group entered the course at a higher knowledge level than the control group (lecture-based), but failed to demonstrate a significantly greater achievement gain in relation to the control (lecture-based) group. Responses to the open-ended (satisfaction) items indicated that students were supportive of whichever teaching method was used during the semester of their enrollment.