Differences in critical thinking of nontraditional and traditional nursing students

This study is part of a larger study describing the differences in critical thinking between nontraditional and traditional beginning baccalaureate nursing students during the first clinical nursing course. Descriptive data analysis from student journals, interviews, and researcher observations revealed three major dimensions of reasoning to describe students' critical thinking: exploration of thoughts and feelings, demonstration of humility, and use of analogous experiences. Nontraditional beginning students do think critically and value the opportunity to share their subjective clinical experiences.