Daniela Schoberer as Science Ambassador at BG/BRG Weiz

As a science ambassador for the Medical University of Graz, Daniela Schoberer visited the BG/BRG Weiz together with two interns from the Institute of Nursing and Health Sciences. Around 60 Year 3 pupils took part in two interactive workshops, gaining a practical insight into nursing science and learning why evidence-based research is essential for high-quality healthcare.

Following a brief introduction to nursing science, the focus was primarily on hands-on participation. The pupils were able to try out various measurement methods used in nursing research for themselves and, as part of the ‘Fact or Fake’ project, got to the bottom of common myths surrounding nursing and health. Together, they examined which claims are scientifically proven and which, on closer inspection, turn out to be misconceptions.

A particular highlight was a randomised controlled trial (RCT) they conducted themselves. The pupils tasted sweets – once in a blind test and once in an open test – which were claimed to have a cooling effect. The surprising result: all the sweets were identical. Differences in perception could be explained solely by the placebo effect. The experiment impressively demonstrated why well-designed scientific studies are necessary to distinguish actual effects from subjective impressions.

To conclude, the pupils worked together to analyse various examples of misleading statistics and learnt to critically scrutinise figures and headlines. Science thrives on critical thinking and the careful examination of evidence – this was the central message of the workshop.

The workshop met with great interest and impressively demonstrated just how exciting nursing science can be when taught effectively. At the same time, it offered the young people the opportunity to gain a modern and nuanced understanding of the nursing profession and nursing science research, and may even have sparked an interest in a future academic career for some of them.