Teaching and Learning for Enhancing 21st Century Thinking Skills of Nursing Students

Abstract

The teaching and learning for nursing students in higher education is very significant to produce nursing graduates with the desired characteristics, skills, and competencies. Currently, students must confront challenging and complex clinical problems. Therefore, it is essential to cultivate 21st-century thinking skills, particularly decision-making abilities that allow for solving complex problems in context. This article aims to propose teaching and learning management strategies that promote 21st-century thinking skills, benefiting both lecturers and educational institutions in effectively applying these strategies to teaching nursing students in the Bachelor of Nursing program.   From literature review, factors affecting the development of 21st-century thinking skills can be categorized into internal and external components, including students themselves, curriculum, instructors, and learning support resources. To develop thinking skills, all four aspects are recommended to 1) support students in building confidence in their learning, inspire them, and organize appropriate active learning activities; 2) design a creative curriculum that emphasizes student-centered teaching and selects learning management formats suitable for students; 3) continuously develop the potential of instructors to enhance their teaching skills and capabilities, adjusting their roles to become teaching experts; 4) survey and integrate digital learning support resources that can be accessed and utilized at any time, planning budget allocations for these resources to ensure maximum efficiency each year.  Nursing teachers could apply these strategies to effectively develop thinking skills and decision-making skills for nursing students by encouraging self-directed learning, analytical and synthetic knowledge, and continuous innovation.