CRITICAL THINKING INSTRUCTION IN AN ASSOCIATE DEGREE NURSING CURRICULUM (NURSING EDUCATION).
Contributors: University of Delaware.
Published: 1991
Number of pages: 204
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Education, Curriculum and Instruction.; Education, Community College.; Health Sciences, Education.
Description: The purpose of this study was to examine an associate degree nursing program to determine whether or not critical thinking instruction existed in the first and fourth levels of the curriculum. All course objectives, and test and quiz items in the full complement of seven classes in these two levels of the program were examined and assigned a level of Bloom's taxonomy. Oral and written assignments were assessed to determine whether or not they encouraged student critical thinking. Additionally, the nine faculty members in the nursing program were interviewed to determine their experiences with and beliefs about critical thinking, as well as the instructional strategies employed in the clinical and classroom settings to promote student critical thinking. The faculty also completed a Faculty Critical Thinking Background Inventory, which provided demographic information.

The basic premise of the study revolved around the notion that critical thinking skills can be developed and should be fostered by the instructional curriculum.

The transcripts of the interviews were examined to discover whether or not there was a relationship between faculty beliefs about critical thinking and evidence of critical thinking instruction in either of the two levels of the nursing curriculum. The results indicated that although some faculty specifically targeted critical thinking instruction in their classroom and clinical activities, the match between the two was inconsistent. Faculty cited time constraints, lack of instructional support materials, student differences, and inappropriate goals of the curricula as reasons for the lack of unified critical thinking instruction throughout the curriculum of the nursing program.

A chi square analysis was performed on the objectives from Levels I and IV and demonstrated a significant relationship at above the p =.001 level. Cramer's V was.434. The chi square analysis, and hence the Cramer's V, performed on the exam questions from the two levels was tenuous because a number of the table cells contained an n of less than five. Trends did show the majority of the questions to be in the knowledge category. Examination of the written and oral assignments in the courses revealed instruction which encouraged student critical thinking. These assignments accounted for 26.7% of the student's grade in these courses.

Implications and recommendations for further study are identified.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-09, Section: B, page: 4669.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE, 1991.

School code: 0060.