Comparison of methods of teaching children proper lifting techniques

This study was designed to determine the effects of two teaching methods on children's ability to demonstrate and recall their mastery of proper lifting techniques. Seventy-six third and fifth grade public school children were divided by grade into three groups. Two of the groups (experimental) were taught the correct method for lifting a heavy object, either by lecture demonstration or guided discovery teaching format; one group (control) was not taught. The students' knowledge was measured pretest, one-week posttest, and eight-week posttest with a written and practical test. The students in the experimental groups in both grades significantly (P ≤ .001) increased their scores on the written portion of the test over those of the control groups on the one-week posttest. No group, however, showed significant gains on the practical portion. No differences were found between teaching methods. Results of this study stress the importance of evaluating verbally learned motor skills in a practical application format in school settings and in clinical patient education.