Teaching critical-thinking skills through group-based learning.

CONTEXT

Critical-thinking skills require the radiographer to analyze, evaluate and synthesize situations to determine a course of action most beneficial to the patient.

OBJECTIVE

For radiography educators, it is important to understand how critical-thinking skills are acquired during the educational process for each student to reach his or her maximum potential.

METHOD

Various teaching strategies such as problem-based learning are reviewed and discussed in this article. Although the teaching strategies discussed have been used in medical education for over 40 years, they are fairly new to radiography educational programs.

CONCLUSION

Today's educators must prepare graduates who are proficient in a wide range of skills to work in a variety of clinical settings. This requires the integration of group-based learning into the radiography curriculum.