| Learning Objective #1: Examine the impact of instructional strategies on students' critical thinking abilities during a prescribed learning activity | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Examine the impact of instructional strategies on a student's learning outcomes during a prescribed learning activity |
Design & Methods: In this descriptive, quasi-experimental study, 36 nursing students, from the southeast United States, were randomized into three groups. Each group received a separate instructional strategy for each of the three learning activities. After the completion of each learning activity, critical thinking abilities and learning outcomes were measured through the administration of a customized HESI examination. One-way ANOVA calculations were conducted to determine the effect of instructional strategies on critical thinking abilities and learning outcomes. Bonferroni post hoc comparisons were employed to evaluate significant (p<0.05) differences between groups. Findings: There were no statistically significant differences between critical thinking abilities (p>0.08) or learning outcomes (p>0.12) of beginning nursing students when traditional didactic classroom instruction was utilized to deliver a learning activity. HESI exam scores were higher and statistically significant differences were detected between critical thinking abilities (p£0.002) and learning outcomes (p£0.001) of beginning nursing students when high-fidelity human patient simulation or a combination of classroom and simulation were utilized to deliver a learning activity.
Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that utilizing the instructional strategies of high-fidelity human patient simulation and a combination of classroom and simulation were effective for some learning activities. Further research is needed to examine the impact of high-fidelity human patient simulation on student's critical thinking abilities and learning outcomes.