The study was designed as an intervention, descriptive and exploratory type because it describes the effectiveness of teaching method comparing between used methods. Comparison among three methods of classroom teaching i.e. lecture, group discussion and group discussion coupled with lecture (i.e. mixed) were made focusing on the effectiveness of each method in relation to students knowledge on diarrhea. The students were administered written questionnaires at the beginning and end of each classroom session. The researcher observed the delivery of each session using observation evaluation tools (Appendix A). The post-test was carried out immediately following the session in order to see the impact of each method using the same set of questionnaires (Appendix B). The students also carried out session evaluation using Likert’s 5 points rating scale with open-ended questionnaires (Appendix C). Two other teachers assisted the classroom teaching to carry out the posttest. A total of forty minutes time was allotted to the posttest followed by the session evaluation.

This study was conducted on 3rd October 1999. Sixty students were oriented about the objective of the study, process of the intervention and the rules for group division. Students were divided into 3 equal groups by using random sampling (Appendix D I). Each group for the lecture, small group discussion and lecture coupled with small group discussion, consisted, of 20 female students. Before starting the actual intervention students were informed that the students from lecture group were not allowed to mix up either with the small group discussion group or with and the mixed group and vice-versa. No of the students were forced to participate and ethics was taken into consideration. Each group underwent intervention for about one and half-hours only.