ABSTRACT
Critical thinking is a cognitive activity for the purpose of perception and evaluation of findings and phenomena on the basis of skills such as reasoning and analysis. In Iran the students of nursing may achieve their BS degree in two forms of continuous and interrupted. As the students of continuous and interrupted BS in nursing are regarded as a BS degree holder in nursing after their graduation, and the society expects a same level of critical thinking skills from both of the groups, we decided to compare the level of critical thinking skills in the students of continuous and discontinuous BS in nursing in Semnan university of medical sciences. This study is a comparative study to compare the level of critical thinking skills in students of continuous and interrupted BS of nursing in Semnan University of Medical Sciences. The sample volume includes all the students of continuous Bs in nursing from juniors to seniors [N = 70] and the students of interrupted BS in nursing who where passing their first or second years of study during the first semester of year 2000-2001. The tool used in this study is California test of critical thinking skills, form B that contains 34 multiple-choice questions with one true answer in five aspects' of cognitive skills of critical thinking [analysis, evaluation, inference, deductive and inductive reasoning]. All of the subjects' completed the above mentioned test which has been validated by the second author in another study before hand. Data were analyzed by software SPSS WIN and also ANOVA and t statistical tests. Mean scores of continuous Bs students and interrupted ones were 12.34 with SD = 2.45 and 11.27 with SD = 3.10 respectively and the difference between the mean scores of the two groups was statistically significant. [t = 1.76, p = 0.005], There was a meaningful difference between the mean scores of the students of different years in the continuous BS group. [F 3.60 = 4.28, P = 0.000] but the difference between the mean scores of the students of first and second year of interrupted BS in nursing [11.28 and 11.51 respectively,] was not statistically significant. In both groups' there were no significant correlation between the age or sex of the students and their mean score in California critical thinking skills test [CCTST] but there was a positive and significant but week correlation between the average of past terms and the mean score of CCTST. [r = 0.31, p = 0.01]. The results of the study showed that the students of continuous BS level in nursing had a higher level of critical thinking skills than the students of interrupted BS studies. Also in this group the students in advanced years of study own higher level of critical thinking skills than those in lower terms. In other words nursing education and higher education has led to a development of critical thinking skills in students