Conclusion
The purpose of the investigation was to examine methods
of nurse educators who were implementing the
pedagogy of scenario-based case studies in their didactic
undergraduate nursing courses. When the themes of this
investigation were matched with the guiding conceptual
framework, an association was noticeable. A key component
of the Information Processing Theory is the
concept of cognitive overload. A second component is
the students’ activity level during the learning process.
The greater the activity level of the students,more learning potential [16,18]. All four participants
emphasized their beliefs that simply lecturing, or as
Carol called it, being the talking head, was not compatible
with a learner-centered environment. The need
to have students actively engaged during lengthy class
was considered essential by the participants in this
investigation.
The second conceptual framework that guided this research
was developed by Marzano and is entitled The
Dimensions of Thinking Framework. Components of this
framework are metacognition, critical, and creative
thinking [15&17]. According to the participants within
this investigation, it was the transfer of responsibility for
learning from teacher to learner that was evident when
case studies were implemented. The transfer of responsibility
is what encourages and enhances life-long learning
for nursing students, thus allowing them to function adequately
in the complex healthcare setting upon graduation.
The reasons cited for this successful transfer were
that student nurses learn to analyze systematically complex
situations in a safe environment (classroom) and
are able integrate the knowledge into their future practice
as nurses with greater ease, which relates to the concepts
of metacognition and critical thinking.