Critical Thinking Theory and Nursing Education

Abstract

Thinking can be also defined as the mental manipulation of sensory input and recalled perceptions to formulate thoughts. Critical thinking “thinking explicitly aimed at well-founded judgment, utilizing appropriate evaluative standards in an attempt to determine the true worth, merit, or value of something”. As previously discussed, there have been a number of theorists and experts in critical thinking who have described critical thinking in a variety of ways. Major Theorists provides an overview of many of the theorists' definitions of critical thinking, followed by brief discussion of the major theorists' views about critical thinking. As nursing students grow in the knowledge of the discipline within the classroom, encounter more acutely ill patients, increased technology, and complex ethical issues within the clinical setting, one would expect they would grow in skills of critical thinking.