Paper
Monday, November 14, 2005
The Ability of Nursing Faculty to Engage in and Recognize Critical Thinking
Dolores Zygmont, PhD, RN, College of Health Professions, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA and Karen Moore Schaefer, DNSc, RN, Department of Nursing, Temple University - College of Health Professions, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
| Learning Objective #1: Incorporate critical thinking skills in both the clinical and classroom environments |
| Learning Objective #2: Explore individual instructional style to identify areas that either encourage or discourage critical thinking in students |
Framework: Assessment of critical thinking (CT) in nursing students shows varying results. The epistemological position may explain these equivocal results. The lack of sensitivity to epistemological position on CT instruments may account for this. The literature suggests a direct relationship between the ability of the student and faculty to think critically. The purpose of this study is (a) to determine the CT skills of nursing faculty to establish a CT benchmark for nursing students and (b) to examine the relationship between epistemological position and CT skills of nursing faculty. The literature suggests that nursing faculty are not universally familiar with CT and continue to use instructional methodologies antithetical to the development of CT. There is support for the belief that the behavioral disciplines are more inclined to promote CT while the science disciplines promote a linear problem solving process. This suggests the need to establish a discipline specific benchmark. Design: A correlation design with method triangulation was used in this study. Instruments: The California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) was used to assess the CT of nursing faculty and the Learning Environment Preferences (LEP) determined the epistemological position. Participants were asked to participate in a one hour interview to describe an incident that represented CT by the students. Sample: Participants reported a mean age of 50.7years and a mean of 14.5 years teaching experience. Most (78.4%) report having no education on CT. Data Analysis: The CCTST and LEP data were analyzed using SPSS11.5. The interviews were analyzed for examples of the a priori categories of CT. Findings: The CCTST revealed a total mean score of 20.8 (SD3.53). The LEP showed that no faculty achieved the position equivalent to CT. Narrative data provided examples of CT a priori categories. Additional themes included: defining critical thinking and teaching strategies to encourage CT.