Abstract

Current learning environments, such as lecture-based classrooms, in nursing education often lack appropriate student engagement, which is necessary to encourage critical thinking. Student engagement is an important component to allow for retention of information. When students retain information, they are more likely to utilize it in new situations and begin the process of critical thinking. Critical thinking must be taught to throughout nursing programs to encourage safe and competent nurses in practice. With the introduction of the Next-Generation NCLEX-RN, students need to begin the critical thinking process early in their nursing programs. Active learning strategies can be used to foster engagement. This topic is significant to nursing as there is a wide array of ages in nursing classrooms, potentially spanning up to three generations of learners. Educators need to be able to adapt learning activities to meet the needs of different generations of learners they will encounter in the nursing classroom. Each generation has different learning styles that need to be addressed to encourage engagement and foster critical thinking. Three different strategies, audience response systems, simulation, and the flipped classroom approach, are discussed with best practice strategies and suggestions for use in the classroom. Based on how these strategies were incorporated into classrooms in the literature, this may serve as a guide for nurse educators to implement any of the three presented strategies into their nursing classrooms, thus encouraging a more effective teaching environment.