Learning Objective #1: explain the efficacy of a contextual reflective learning intervention to improve critical thinking in practice.

Learning Objective #2: discuss strategies that integrate evidence within the context of practice to enhance the development of critical thinking.

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Nursing research evaluating the development of critical thinking in novice nursing practice is limited.  The continual struggle for nurse educators to improve critical thinking demonstrates the need for innovative educational interventions within the context of evidence-based practice. This paper discusses the design, evaluation and outcomes of the preceptor component of a contextual learning intervention.  This intervention utilized preceptors in a reflective learning strategy that connected novice nurses’ learning to the contextual realities of practice to facilitate development of critical thinking.  Nurse preceptors utilized different forms of inquiry within the context of day-to-day practice to help create new learning and understanding around the nature and use of evidence in helping to develop the novice nurses’ critical thinking.   Using Stake’s case study methodology, preceptors and novice nurses participated in a six-month reflective contextual learning intervention.  The contextual learning intervention was identified as the case through which the novice nurses’ critical thinking was examined.  Stories of the preceptors’ practice experiences were analyzed using Stake’s phases of data analysis.  Analysis involved searching for patterns and the consistency of those patterns across time and subjects helping the researcher to understand critical thinking as it related to the effects of the contextual learning intervention.  The preceptors acknowledged that the intervention gave them a new perspective on critical thinking.  Findings from the case study analysis identify two themes that describe the preceptors’ evaluation of the novice nurses' development of critical thinking: 1) critical thinking as the ability to organize and carry out tasks, and 2) critical thinking as intentional, reflective thinking.  Used as a reflective practicum, contextual learning can be a model of clinical learning in nursing education that develops the contextual, reflective nature of critical thinking within the context of practice.