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Learning Objective #1: explain the need for "contextualizing" the facts and principles teachers present to students.

Learning Objective #2: describe how the case method can be used instead of the traditional lecture-and-readings format to teach fundamentals of nursing.

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The National League for Nursing has called for the transformation of nursing education. Inherent in this challenge is the need to adopt new teaching models and teach students to “think like nurses” (clinical reasoning). This session is designed for educators who want to expand their use of the case method in their teaching. Some suggestions for meeting the NLN challenge are to: 1. Integrate critical thinking in the curriculum 2. De-emphasize teaching strategies that present decontextualized knowledge (e.g., lecture). 3. Use more active-learning strategies. 4. Role model nursing thinking and thinking in context 5. Make realistic reading assignments The case-study method of teaching incorporates all five suggestions. It presents information in the context of patient situations, requires active learning, promotes critical thinking, and provides opportunities for the instructor to role model nursing thinking. In addition, students need to read only the information required to answer the questions posed for the case. However, cases must be carefully constructed to be sure that students are reading the most important material. Nurse educators may say, “Case method is good—ideal. However, it can't be used in fundamentals because students need to learn the ‘basic' information before they can apply it to cases.” This session will address that concern by: 1. Explaining briefly what is meant by “decontextualized knowledge.” 2. Facilitating group discussion of reading assignments—their uses and difficulties. 3. Providing a definition of clinical reasoning and critical thinking. 4. Explaining briefly the benefits of the case method in (a) providing context for knowledge and (b) promoting critical thinking. 5. Describing how the case method can be used instead of the traditional lecture-and-readings format to teach fundamentals of nursing. 6. Providing a chapter outline from a fundamentals text, and a case study and a set of questions to use in presenting the content.