A 4-YEAR 3-TECHNIQUE LEARNING-EXPERIENCE IN THE FIELD OF OCCUPATIONAL-HEALTH

Aim. This study was performed with the aim of comparing three teaching techniques: (i) browsing a hypertext, (ii) attending traditional lectures, and (iii) reading a book in the field of occupational risk for human health. Material and Methods. All second-year students of academic years 1989-1993 (35 students) of the School of Environmental and Occupational Hygiene, Faculty of Medicine, University of Pavia, participated in the study. The experimental strategy consisted of 56 working sessions (28 hypertext-browsing, 14 lectures, 14 book-reading). After each session the students took a 16-item multiple-choice test on the covered argument to evaluate the learning degree and they were requested to judge clarity, interest, and usefulness of each learning experience. Results. The performance of the students shows that learning from hypertext-browsing is not different from learning from lecture or from book reading. Furthermore, if a 75%-level of correct answers is considered ''sufficient'', the three learning techniques are similar regarding learning effectiveness. In fact, the difference between students who had a level greater than or equal to 75% of correct answers after hypertext-browsing, after lecture and after book reading was not statistically significant. As regards the acceptability of the techniques adopted, the students considered them similar regarding interest, clarity and usefulness. Conclusion. Hypertext systems for browsing materials (such as electronic encyclopedia or medical textbook) were assumed to be suitable for learning. The results of this 4-years experience which compared three learning techniques suggest that this innovative approach can be used as a tool for learning human activities and their related health risks.