Group Learning Strategies for Nursing Students: Reflections on the Tutor Role

The aim of this article is to propose, first, a typology of the learning strategies that nursing students in the second year of a nursing baccalaureate program use in PBL group work with a clinical nursing situation; and, second, a typology of tutor interventions during such sessions. Two complete PBL sessions were recorded on video. They were then transcribed, and, using a conceptual model of learning strategies, the data was analyzed with NVivo 7 software. The study shows that it is mainly during the problem-understanding phase that students elaborate and organize knowledge; in the knowledge-application phase they repeat what has already been set down in their concept map rather than engage in activities of elaboration, generalization or discrimination.