Barriers to Teaching Critical Thinking Skills Essay
Barriers to Teaching Critical Thinking Skills Essay
Barriers to Teaching Critical Thinking Skills Sample Essay
Critical thinking skills enable an individual to analyze available data and evidence in order to make a rational or objective decision. Critical thinking is essential in nursing practice as it helps evaluate patient information and evidence-based knowledge resources before making clinical judgments. For this reason, there is a need to equip student nurses with critical thinking skills. Even though critical thinking has been incorporated into most nursing training programs, nurse educators still find it difficult to teach critical thinking due to various barriers.
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According to Chan (2013), common barriers when teaching critical thinking include deep-rooted stereotypes and prejudices among student nurses, subjective thinking, and inadequate awareness of the importance and application of critical thinking. Shirazi and Heidari (2019) reveal that the behavior and attitude of most student nurses are shaped by cultural beliefs and stereotypes relating to race, class, and gender. These stereotypes and assumptions hinder students’ desire to think critically during decision-making. The other barrier when teaching critical thinking skills is subjective thinking. Unlike objective thinking, which relies more on the analysis of arguments rather than emotions, subjective thinking is driven solely by emotions. Teaching students with a subjective thinking mentality about the importance of critical thinking skills is challenging. Subjective thinking limits the ability to acquire and utilize critical thinking in decision-making. Besides deep-rooted stereotypes and subjective thinking, inadequate awareness of the need and importance of critical thinking skills is a major barrier to teaching critical thinking skills.
One of the most effective approaches that nurse educators can use to promote critical thinking skills in students is the questioning strategy (Shirazi & Heidari, 2019). This strategy uses open-ended questions that require the student to brainstorm on information acquired in class and background information to provide the appropriate answer. Also, nurse educators can use group projects to promote critical thinking skills in students. This strategy will help overcome barriers to teaching critical thinking skills. Therefore, addressing the barriers to teaching critical thinking is an effective way of encouraging clinical judgment and evidence-based practice among nurses.
References
Chan, Z. C. (2013). A systematic review of critical thinking in nursing education. Nurse education today, 33(3), 236-240.
Shirazi, F., & Heidari, S. (2019). The relationship between critical thinking skills and learning styles and academic achievement of nursing students. The Journal of Nursing Research, 27(4), e38.
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What are common barriers when teaching critical thinking skills? What strategies can nurse educators use to better promote critical thinking skills in students?