The Effect of Concept Mapping on Critical Thinking Skills and Dispositions of Junior and Senior Baccalaureate Nursing Students

Teaching and assessing critical thinking have great professional benefit to nursing education (Daley, 1996, Facione, 1996). Major issues still center on and are discussed by nurse educators about the importance of teaching strategies that enhance critical thinking skills and measurements of critical thinking (Adams, 1999; Daley, Shaw, & Balistrieri, 1999; Facione & Facione, 1997). The purposes of this quasi experimental study, using a pretest – posttest control group design were twofold. The first purpose was to explore the effect of concept mapping, as a metacognitive teaching strategy on the critical thinking skills and dispositions of junior and senior level baccalaureate nursing students. The second purpose was to evaluate the changes in students' concept mapping skills over time. This research was based upon David Ausubel’s theory of meaningful learning (1968) and Joseph Novak and Bob Gowin’s (1984) work on the application of meaningful learning using concept mapping. The convenience sample included 32 students in the experimental group and 45 students in the control group. The participants were enrolled in accredited generic baccalaureate nursing programs. The students in the experimental group developed two concept maps over the course of a full academic semester. The California Critical Skills Test (CCTST) and the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) were used to measure the variables. Novak and Gowin's (1984) scoring criteria were used to score the concept maps. The pretest scores of the two groups did not differ significantly. The experimental and control groups did not differ on CCTST or CCTDI posttest scores. There was no relationship between critical thinking skills and dispositions scores. Nursing students who used concept mapping showed no increase in their CCTST and CCTDI on posttest scores. The first concept maps showed fewer concepts, and less connecting of concepts than the second concept maps, supporting Ausabel’s Meaningful Learning Theory. The findings of this study suggest that concept mapping triggers critical thinking, which guides the student to engage in meaningful learning. However, the need still exists for researchers to use other critical thinking tools that may capture students’ growth of critical thinking over time.