The development and evaluation of concepts for communicating “life-saving Immediate measures” for students"

Abstract

The aim was to develop and evaluate various concepts (analog, digital, hybrid) for teaching "life-saving immediate measures" to determine whether they motivate and engage students (N = 315) across different grade levels (5–8 and 9–12). For five stations ("Emergency Call & Rescue Chain," "CPR," "Automated External Defibrillator," "Wound Care," "Recovery Position"), concept-specific teaching materials were developed. These concepts were evaluated through surveys (closed-ended questions: 5-point Likert scale from 1–5, and open-ended questions). Students were surveyed after the implementation of each concept to assess whether they were motivated and how strongly they were interested in the respective concept. Additionally, members of the public (N = 125) and biology teachers (N = 10) evaluated the concepts regarding their suitability for schools. The empirical study aimed to develop recommendations for the further development of school-based concepts.
All concepts were highly effective in motivating students regarding this crucial topic. The relevance of the newly developed, concept-specific teaching materials was rated as important across all five stations (M_d = 3.7–4.3). The measured "situational interest" was also high for all concepts (concepts: M_d = 3.8–4.1; concept-specific teaching materials: M_d = 3.8–4.0), and this was independent of gender. This interest was driven by the opportunity for hands-on activities in the analog and hybrid concepts, and by the use of explanatory videos in the hybrid and digital concepts. Significant differences in "situational interest" between grade levels were found only for the analog concept (concept: d = .530, p = .015; teaching materials: d = .582, p = .008). Surveyed members of the public and teachers favored the hybrid concept, attributing their preference to the effective use of teaching materials and the opportunity for practical application.

Based on the presented study, it is recommended to prioritize hybrid concepts ("Blended Learning") for teaching "life-saving immediate measures," which combine hands-on activities with digital teaching materials in the form of explanatory videos.