Nursing education reform is needed for today’s generational mix of pre-licensure nursing students to prepare them to effectively care for clients’ ever-evolving healthcare needs. This mixed-methods, quasi-experimental study was designed to measure if the use of unfolding case studies (UCS) in a traditional classroom setting (TCS) would (a) enhance critical thinking skills of the experimental group more than the control group as measured by the Health Science Reasoning Test (HSRT), (b) explore if course content examinations were higher in the experimental group versus the control group, (c) explore the perceptions of a subset of Bachelor of Science Nursing (BSN) pre-licensure students to determine if the use of multimodal learning (visual, auditory, reading, and kinesthetic) opportunities throughout UCS improved CTS in the classroom setting, clinical setting, and preparing for course content exams and, (d) explore if the above-mentioned subset of BSN students perceived greater engagement during the learning process. A convenience sample (N = 70) of BSN pre-licensure students participated in the quantitative portion of this research study. A subset of BSN pre-licensure students (n = 8) from the experimental group volunteered for a 1-hour focus group session. Quantitative data results showed no statistical significance between the experimental and control groups’ HSRT overall and subscale scores (p > .05) and only a statistical significance for Exam I (p < .05). Qualitative data from participants’ verbatim showed nursing faculty should use multimodal learning opportunities throughout UCS in the TCS because this pedagogy fostered classroom engagement and development/enhancement of CTS through evolving client scenarios.
","abstract_html":"<p>Nursing education reform is needed for today’s generational mix of pre-licensure nursing students to prepare them to effectively care for clients’ ever-evolving healthcare needs. This mixed-methods, quasi-experimental study was designed to measure if the use of unfolding case studies (UCS) in a traditional classroom setting (TCS) would (a) enhance critical thinking skills of the experimental group more than the control group as measured by the Health Science Reasoning Test (HSRT), (b) explore if course content examinations were higher in the experimental group versus the control group, (c) explore the perceptions of a subset of Bachelor of Science Nursing (BSN) pre-licensure students to determine if the use of multimodal learning (visual, auditory, reading, and kinesthetic) opportunities throughout UCS improved CTS in the classroom setting, clinical setting, and preparing for course content exams and, (d) explore if the above-mentioned subset of BSN students perceived greater engagement during the learning process. A convenience sample (<em>N</em> = 70) of BSN pre-licensure students participated in the quantitative portion of this research study. A subset of BSN pre-licensure students (<em>n</em> = 8) from the experimental group volunteered for a 1-hour focus group session. Quantitative data results showed no statistical significance between the experimental and control groups’ HSRT overall and subscale scores (<em>p</em> > .05) and only a statistical significance for Exam I (<em>p</em> < .05). Qualitative data from participants’ verbatim showed nursing faculty should use multimodal learning opportunities throughout UCS in the TCS because this pedagogy fostered classroom engagement and development/enhancement of CTS through evolving client scenarios.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Lloyd, Elaine M."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Open Access Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Nursing","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Laurie Blondy, PhD, RN","Barbara Scheffer, EdD, RN","Robert Carpenter, PhD"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:40Z","subjects":["Critical Thinking","Health Science Reasoning Test","Multimodal Learning Styles: Visual","Auditory","Reading","Kinesthetic (VARK)","Pre-Licensure Bachelor of Science Nursing Students","Traditonal Classroom Setting","Unfolding Case Studies","Adult and Continuing Education","Higher Education","Nursing"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1035","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Laurie Blondy, PhD, RN","Barbara Scheffer, EdD, RN","Robert Carpenter, PhD"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Lloyd, Elaine M."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2020-09-22T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Nursing"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Critical Thinking","Health Science Reasoning Test","Multimodal Learning Styles: Visual","Auditory","Reading","Kinesthetic (VARK)","Pre-Licensure Bachelor of Science Nursing Students","Traditonal Classroom Setting","Unfolding Case Studies","Adult and Continuing Education","Higher Education","Nursing"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1035"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Nursing education reform is needed for today’s generational mix of pre-licensure nursing students to prepare them to effectively care for clients’ ever-evolving healthcare needs. This mixed-methods, quasi-experimental study was designed to measure if the use of unfolding case studies (UCS) in a traditional classroom setting (TCS) would (a) enhance critical thinking skills of the experimental group more than the control group as measured by the Health Science Reasoning Test (HSRT), (b) explore if course content examinations were higher in the experimental group versus the control group, (c) explore the perceptions of a subset of Bachelor of Science Nursing (BSN) pre-licensure students to determine if the use of multimodal learning (visual, auditory, reading, and kinesthetic) opportunities throughout UCS improved CTS in the classroom setting, clinical setting, and preparing for course content exams and, (d) explore if the above-mentioned subset of BSN students perceived greater engagement during the learning process. A convenience sample (N = 70) of BSN pre-licensure students participated in the quantitative portion of this research study. A subset of BSN pre-licensure students (n = 8) from the experimental group volunteered for a 1-hour focus group session. Quantitative data results showed no statistical significance between the experimental and control groups’ HSRT overall and subscale scores (p > .05) and only a statistical significance for Exam I (p < .05). Qualitative data from participants’ verbatim showed nursing faculty should use multimodal learning opportunities throughout UCS in the TCS because this pedagogy fostered classroom engagement and development/enhancement of CTS through evolving client scenarios.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Using unfolding case studies in a traditional classroom setting to enhance critical thinking skills in pre-licensure Bachelor of Science Nursing students"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Laurie Blondy, PhD, RN","Barbara Scheffer, EdD, RN","Robert Carpenter, PhD"],"dc:creator":["Lloyd, Elaine M."],"dc:date.available":["2020-09-22T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Nursing education reform is needed for today’s generational mix of pre-licensure nursing students to prepare them to effectively care for clients’ ever-evolving healthcare needs. This mixed-methods, quasi-experimental study was designed to measure if the use of unfolding case studies (UCS) in a traditional classroom setting (TCS) would (a) enhance critical thinking skills of the experimental group more than the control group as measured by the Health Science Reasoning Test (HSRT), (b) explore if course content examinations were higher in the experimental group versus the control group, (c) explore the perceptions of a subset of Bachelor of Science Nursing (BSN) pre-licensure students to determine if the use of multimodal learning (visual, auditory, reading, and kinesthetic) opportunities throughout UCS improved CTS in the classroom setting, clinical setting, and preparing for course content exams and, (d) explore if the above-mentioned subset of BSN students perceived greater engagement during the learning process. A convenience sample (N = 70) of BSN pre-licensure students participated in the quantitative portion of this research study. A subset of BSN pre-licensure students (n = 8) from the experimental group volunteered for a 1-hour focus group session. Quantitative data results showed no statistical significance between the experimental and control groups’ HSRT overall and subscale scores (p > .05) and only a statistical significance for Exam I (p < .05). Qualitative data from participants’ verbatim showed nursing faculty should use multimodal learning opportunities throughout UCS in the TCS because this pedagogy fostered classroom engagement and development/enhancement of CTS through evolving client scenarios.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1035"],"dc:subject":["Critical Thinking","Health Science Reasoning Test","Multimodal Learning Styles: Visual","Auditory","Reading","Kinesthetic (VARK)","Pre-Licensure Bachelor of Science Nursing Students","Traditonal Classroom Setting","Unfolding Case Studies","Adult and Continuing Education","Higher Education","Nursing"],"dc:title":["Using unfolding case studies in a traditional classroom setting to enhance critical thinking skills in pre-licensure Bachelor of Science Nursing students"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Nursing"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:40Z"}