Ideal Traits of the Professional Nurse Described by Graduate Students in Education and in Nursing1

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the quality of writing of second and sixth graders who were taught by two different writing approaches (whole language and traditional). The writing samples were rated on two separate criteria-quality of content and mastery of mechanics. Three raters evaluated the writing samples, and an analysis of variance was performed to measure differences. The findings were as follows: (a) Second graders who were taught by teachers using the whole language approach produced better writing samples when evaluated on meaning and content, (b) There was no difference in writing samples in the correct use of mechanics of second graders taught by either approach, (c) There was no difference in writing samples of sixth graders taught by either approach.