The Art of Critical Thinking in Nursing: a Novel Multi-modal Humanities Curriculum

This paper aims to describe a multi-modal, humanities-based set of workshops designed to improve nursing students’ critical thinking skills, perspective taking, and appreciation of the humanities. This workshop expands the Visual Thinking Strategies curriculum to a multi-modal, arts-based program. Twenty-two nursing students participated in four, three-hour arts-based workshops. Program reactions were qualitatively analyzed. Following completion of the course, participants reported an appreciation for the multi-modal arts-based program and recognized ways in which it might influence their performance on the job. The curriculum was perceived as beneficial by nursing students, with themes of metacognition and awareness/appreciation of others being particularly salient.