Perceptions of Effective Critical-Thinking Teaching Methodologies Among Senior Baccalaureate Nursing Students

Thursday, July 22, 2004
9:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Thursday, July 22, 2004
2:30 PM - 3:00 PM

Lisa A. Haynie, RN, MSN, CS-FNP¹, Anne A. Norwood, RN, MSN, CS-FNP¹, Tina M. Martin, RN, MSN, CFNP², and Jill S. White, RN, MSN². (1) University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Nursing, Jackson, MS, USA, (2) School of Nursing, University of Mississippi School of Nursing, Jackson, MS, USA

Design: A descriptive survey was utilized to determine if various teaching methods enhanced students’ perceived learning and critical thinking.

Population, Sample, Setting and Years: The sample consisted of 61 senior undergraduate baccalareate nursing students in a university school of nursing in a southern state in America during the Fall 2003 semester.

Concept or Variables Studied Together or Intervention and Outcome Variables: The concepts to be analyzed are student’s perceived effectivenss of various teaching methodologies such as didactic lecture, case studies and role play.

Methods: A 10 question survey was conducted to evaluate the mean of individual responses. ANOVA and Chi-Square were also performed to determine if there were significant differences in students’ perception of effective teaching methodologies.

Findings: Results evidenced the majority of senior students preferred case study (100%) and role play (100%) compared to 47.8% preferring didactic lecture. Also, the majority of senior students believed that case study (95.1%) and role play (100%) stimulated critical thinking stimulated critical thinking as compared to

Conclusions: Accoding to this group of students, learning through various teaching modalities is perceived as effective as traditional didactic lectures. Additionally, these senior students perceived a valuable learning experience through these different teaching modalities.

Implications: Critical thinking teaching methodologies should be considered as effective as the traditional didactic lecture and should be implemented to enhance student learning. Furthermore, ackowledging there are differences in student’s perceptions of effective teaching methods will provide the educator with valuable information to consider when lecturing in the future. Further studies should be performed comparing faculty perceptions of what enhances critical thinking to those perceptions of their students.