ERIC Number: EJ1098529
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0973-0559
EISSN: N/A
Implementing Social Norm Pedagogy to Impact Students' Personal Health Behavior
Kramer, Mary M.; Stover, Sheri
Journal of Educational Technology, v12 n3 p1-12 Oct-Dec 2015
This quantitative exploratory research study describes the incorporation of Social Norms as a unique pedagogical method in an undergraduate Health Behaviors course (N = 32). With the use of an audience response system (clickers), students anonymously answered health-behavior related questions. Aggregate data from the class was compared to state and national data from readily available databases to encourage student engagement, bring relevance to theoretical concepts, and launch meaningful discussion. The results from the data show that, the incorporation of the Social Norms teaching methodology had a strong impact on students adopting more positive attitudes (88%) toward their own health-related behaviors, and also resulted in changes to their own behaviors (72%). Fifty-six percent of students made suggestions to family and/or friends regarding health-related behavior change. Students gave a strong recommendation to both the use of clickers (87%) and Social Norms pedagogy (84%). Students reported having high levels of truthfulness (94%) in their responses and the majority (85%) felt comfortable with their clicker responses being anonymous. Among the small percentage (15%) of students who reported feeling uncomfortable discussing personal health-behaviors in class, no relationship was found between students' comfort level and gender, religious beliefs, or political beliefs.
Descriptors: Behavior Standards, Social Behavior, Health Behavior, Student Behavior, Undergraduate Students, Statistical Analysis, College Instruction, Audience Response Systems, Health Education, Teaching Methods, Student Attitudes, Behavior Change, Positive Attitudes, Instructional Effectiveness, Gender Differences, Religion, Politics
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A