Relationship between selected discourse strategies and student critical thinking

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Cognitive Science
• Communication Studies

Background:

• Effective communication strategies in nursing education are crucial for developing critical thinking skills.
• Post-conference discussions are a key setting for clinical skill development and critical thinking enhancement.
• Understanding the impact of specific discourse strategies on student critical thinking is essential for pedagogical improvement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between specific discourse strategies used in nursing clinical post-conferences and the critical thinking levels of nursing students.
• To determine if increased use of teacher questions, elaboration, probing, and student participation correlates with higher student critical thinking.
• To identify which discourse strategies are most significantly associated with enhanced critical thinking in nursing trainees.

Main Methods:

• Quartile ranking of 57 nursing students based on the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal.
• Analysis of discourse strategies during clinical post-conferences, including teacher high-level questions, teacher elaboration, teacher probing questions, student participation, and student-to-student participation.
• Statistical analysis to determine the association between discourse strategies and student critical thinking quartiles.

Main Results:

• A significant association (p < .0001) was found between all analyzed discourse strategies and student critical thinking quartiles in one taping session (Conference II).
• Further analysis revealed complex and ambiguous patterns in the two-way associations between discourse strategies and critical thinking.
• A consistent finding indicated a conceptual relationship where less student talk and less student-to-student talk were associated with higher levels of student critical thinking.

Conclusions:

• While initial findings showed broad associations, the relationship between specific discourse strategies and student critical thinking in nursing post-conferences is complex.
• The study suggests that reduced student verbal participation might be conceptually linked to higher critical thinking development in this specific educational context.
• Further research is needed to clarify the nuanced interplay between discourse dynamics and critical thinking acquisition in nursing clinical education.