PROMOTING THE COGNITIVE-DEVELOPMENT OF FRESHMAN NURSING-STUDENTS

One of the goals of baccalaureate nursing education is to facilitate s tudents' cognitive development, that is, their ability to employ reaso n, manage diversity, and engage in contextual decision-making. Despite this goal, however, studies indicate that the majority of nursing stu dents tend to be at the lower levels of development, rather than at mo re advanced levels. The purpose of the study reported here was to desc ribe the cognitive development of one university's nursing student pop ulation at the beginning and end of the freshman year, investigate the effects of planned developmental instruction strategies on cognitive growth, and investigate the relationship among cognitive development, GPA, and SAT scores. While subjects evidenced some cognitive growth, t he mean level of cognitive development for all subjects was at the low er end of the scale. Specific instructional strategies are described, statistical and qualitative analyses of groups are reported, and sugge stions for further research are proposed.