Dissertation Abstract

The Effect of Computer Enhanced Skill Training in Critical Thinking and Cognitive Monitoring on Learning and Development of Critical Thinking in an Undergraduate Family Nursing Course (Georgia).

This study investigated the effects of incorporating skill training in critical thinking and cognitive monitoring within Gagne's nine events of learning on acquisition of information and the development of critical thinking skills. The sample of 38 was drawn from students at Armstrong State College enrolled in BSN 340: Nursing and Family Health. The subjects participated in one of two Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) units dealing with family interviewing and assessment. Both CAI units were designed using Gagne's nine events of learning. The content of the two CAI units was identical except for the addition of critical thinking and cognitive monitoring training for the experimental group.

Six research questions were examined by analysis of co-variance and t-tests. There were no statistically significant differences between the incorporated skills training group and the control group on either acquisition of information or on development of critical thinking. There was a significant correlation between every measures of critical thinking and the unit test scores associated with the CAI instruction independent of treatment group which is suggestive of an interaction between the design of both CAI programs and the development of critical thinking.

This study failed to support the incorporation of critical thinking and cognitive monitoring within Gagne's nine events of learning as a method of increasing acquisition of information or as a method of developing critical thinking skills in nursing students. However, the CAI unit reduced the instructional time for the content by 50% over that necessary for traditional classroom instruction.

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