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Concept mapping. Does it improve critical thinking ability in practical nursing students?
Rhonda E Maneval1, Monica J Filburn, Susan O Deringer
1Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. rmaneval@temple.edu
Nursing Education Perspectives
|September 20, 2011
Summary
Traditional care planning teaching methods were found to be more effective than concept mapping for developing critical thinking skills in practical nursing students, according to a recent study.
Area of Science:
- Nursing Education
- Pedagogy
- Healthcare Professional Development
Background:
- Critical thinking is a fundamental skill for nursing practice.
- Evaluating effective teaching methodologies in nursing education is crucial.
- Traditional care planning and concept mapping are two distinct pedagogical approaches.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the efficacy of concept mapping versus traditional care planning in developing critical thinking skills.
- To assess the impact of different teaching methods on practical nursing students' critical thinking abilities.
- To determine if concept mapping offers superior outcomes compared to traditional methods for critical thinking development.
Main Methods:
- A study was conducted with practical nursing students divided into a control group and two experimental groups.
- The control group received traditional care planning instruction.
- The experimental groups were taught using concept mapping methodologies.
- The National League for Nursing Critical Thinking in Clinical Nursing Practice/PN Examination was used for data collection.
Main Results:
- Students instructed via traditional care planning demonstrated statistically significant higher scores on the critical thinking examination.
- Concept mapping, as implemented in this study, did not yield superior results in critical thinking development compared to the traditional method.
- A statistically significant difference was observed in favor of the traditional care planning group.
Conclusions:
- Traditional care planning appears to be a more effective teaching strategy for enhancing critical thinking skills in practical nursing students than concept mapping.
- Further research may be warranted to explore variations in concept mapping implementation or other teaching strategies.
- The findings suggest that traditional methods remain highly valuable for foundational nursing education.
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