as an evaluation method to facilitate reflective thinking skills in nursing education

This article seeks to establish whether the poster presen­ tation of a specific theme can facilitate the student’s think­ ing skills in nursing education. A qualitative, explora­ tory, descriptive and contextual research design where twenty students volunteered to take part in the study by signing an informed consent was followed. Descriptive naïve sketches were used for data collection followed by individual interviews to validate the findings. Data was analysed by means of the descriptive method of open cod­ ing of Tesch (in Creswell, 1994:155). DENOSA’s ethical standards for research (1998:7) were considered.

The findings indicated both positive and negative percep tions.The positive perceptions were: a poster presenta tion as an evaluation method facilitates creative, critical and reflective thinking skills; group work facilitates stu dent participation; it facilitates problem solving skills; it increases the student's independence and a sense of ow n ership; and the evaluation is fair.The negative percep tions were that there was a lack of clarity on the student's expectations and that group activity is difficult.Trustwor thiness was maintained in accordance with Lincoln and G uba's principles (1985:290-327).It is concluded that a poster presentation, used effectively as an evaluation method, can facilitate the learner's critical and reflective thinking skills.It is recom mended that other leamer-centred methods of assessment and evaluation be researched for their effective use in facilitating the higher order think ing skills of learners.van Tesch (in Creswell, 1994:155) se beskrywende metode van opekodering ontleed.Die etiese navorsing-standaarde van DENOSA (1998:7) is toegepas.

Opsomming
Bevindinge het beide positiewe en negatiewe persepsies aangedui.Positiewe persepsies was: plakkaataanbieding as evalueringsm etode fasiliteer kreatiew e, kritiese en re fle k tie w e d e n k v a a rd ig h e d e ;g ro e p w e rk f a s ilite e r s tu d e n te d e e ln a m e ; d it f a s ilite e r probleem oplossingsvaardighede, verhoog die student se onafhanklikheid en sin van eienaarskap; evaluering is billik.N egatiew e persepsies was dat daar 'n gebrek aan duidelikheid is van die student se verw agtinge en dat g ro e p a k tiw ite it m o e ilik is.G e lo o fw a a rd ig h e id is gehandhaaf ooreenkom stig die beginsels van Lincoln en Guba (1985:290-327).

Introduction
Guidelines for a poster presentation were described in a big ger study in which a model to facilitate reflective thinking was developed.As part of the implementation of the guide lines of the model, post-basic students undertaking a degree course in nursing education were given a group assignment using a poster as an evaluation method to disseminate a newly developed curriculum effectively.It was the first time that these students were exposed to this type of evaluation.After submission of the assignments, all the students were requested to describe their perceptions with regard to a poster presenta tion as an evaluation m ethod that facilitates higher-order thinking skills, the aim being to ensure quality nursing edu cation.
The current education system in South A frica is such that there is an outcry for the provision of quality assurance in the education system of the country in line with international standards.The South African Qualifications Authority Act (Act no 58 o f 1995), the National Qualification Framework, The South African Nursing Council (1999) and the Outcomes-Based Education approach to education and training are re sponsible for m aintaining and ensuring quality education in nursing.
Central to quality assurance in the education and training of students is "how the students learn" .The teaching and evalu ation m ethods should facilitate critical and reflective think ing o f learners in order to im prove practice.Education and training should focus on service, what the National Plan for Higher Education (2001) refers to as service learning or edu cation for service.Educators are urged to im plem ent various m ethods o f teaching and evaluation that prom ote learning such as, a poster presentation to facilitate critical and reflec tive thinking skills.Rote learning through structured lecture m ethods should be regarded as past history or used minimally where necessary.
The ideal critical thinker, according to the A m erican Philo sophical A ssociation (1990), is habitually inquisitive, well inform ed, trustful, reasoning, open-m inded, flexible, fairminded in evaluation, honest in facing personal biases, pru dent in m aking judgem ents, willing to reconsider, clear about issues, orderly in com plex m atters, diligent in seeking rel evant inform ation, reasonable in the selection o f criteria, fo cused on enquiry, and persistent in seeking results that are as precise as the subject and circum stances of the enquiry per mit.On the other hand, reflective thinking is, according to Chabeli (2001:107), a rational, progressive cyclical interac tive m ental process, influenced by cognitive and affective thinking skills.It is triggered by uncertainty in a specific situ ation bringing about a state of mental awareness and disequi librium , which leads to an interactive constructing process resulting in new insight and a changed perspective to im prove practice.
Based on the two definitions, it becomes clear that there is no longer room for lip-service but action to facilitate the critical and reflective thinking of learners.The need to improve health care services is great as evidenced by the increasing mal prac tice described in the media.The facilitation of critical and reflective thinking of students will provide the answer to this problem only if we 'p u t the learnes f i r s t ' and focus on their learning needs, states the then m inister o f education, S. Bhengu, in the W hite Paper on Education and Training (1995).
Presently, the researcher (eleven years of experience in teach ing students at university level) has observed that the stu dents are teacher dependent.They actually dem and the rote learning teaching and evaluation methods that result in poor perform ance, especially in abstract courses that dem and criti cal and reflective thinking, such as research methodology.The teacher who uses a lecture method is "structured, organ ised and good" and therefore liked by the students.The one who uses reflective teaching methods that require interaction will not be liked by the students because the students expend great energy trying to figure out the teacher's intentions (Costa, 1989:10).
The implem entation of teaching and evaluation m ethods that will facilitate critical and reflective thinking will prom ote the problem -solution skills of the learners.The research ques tion o f the study is: Does a poster presentation as an evalua tion method facilitate critical and reflective thinking in nurs ing education?W hat recommendations could be made to im prove the existing guidelines for the effective im plem enta tion of this method of evaluation?The purpose of this study is to describe the perceptions of the students who were subjected to a poster presentation as an evaluation method to facilitate critical and reflective thinking skills, with the aim of describ ing guidelines for the effective im plementation of this method of evaluation.The purpose will be realised through the fol lowing objectives:

•
To describe the perceptions o f students after the im plementation of a poster presentation as an evaluation method to facilitate critical and reflective thinking in nursing education.
• To describe guidelines for the effective use o f poster presentations in nursing education.

Underlying theoretical assumption
Constructivist epistemology challenges traditional pedagogy in that it does take into account what individual students have learned and how they have learned it.It is also cognizant of many factors associated with contextual and meaningful learn ing, and learning with understanding.For constructivists, learning is not knowledge written on, or transplanted to, a person's mind as if the mind were a blank slate waiting to be written on or an empty gallery waiting to be filled (Cobem ifl Peters, 2000:167).They believe in the epistemological view that knowledge is built by individuals.New knowledge is built on existing knowledge, on what the student already knows from previous experiences (Shuell, 1986:412).The learning process is an active one.Learners challenge their com pre hension as a result of new learning encounters.
In essence, constructivistic approach to teaching and learn ing is mediatory in nature (Cobem in Peters, 2000: 167).A constructivist teacher works as the interface between the cur riculum and the student to bring the two together in a way that is meaningful to the learner.The idea that students dis cover and construct meaning from their environments sug gests a rethinking by teachers about how they could teach.A constructivist teacher is one who designs learning experiences that are active, where the learners are "doing," reflecting on and evaluating their learning experiences to construct new know ledge and m eaning (Yager, 1991:53).It is on this theoretical assumption that this study is based.The process of designing a poster in order to meet a specific learning out come requires active participation that is creative, critical and reflective in nature to build and develop new knowledge, in sight and perspective with regard to the given theme through interaction.

Evaluation method
Evaluation is a process whereby information obtained through assessment is interpreted to m ake judgem ents about the learn ers' competence.It is a process o f determining the merit, worth or value of a process or the product o f that process (Mellish; Brink & Paton 1998:224;G ravett, 2000:2;Van der Horst & McDonald, 1997:169).

The student
A person undergoing a post-basic degree majoring in nursing education, nursing m anagem ent and a chosen speciality, registrable with the South African Nursing Council in a uni versity in Gauteng.

Reflective thinking
Reflective thinking is a rational, progressive cyclical interac tive m ental process, influenced by cognitive and affective thinking skills.It is triggered by uncertainty in a specific situ ation, bringing about a state o f m ental awareness and dis equilibrium which leads to an interactive constructing proc ess, followed by the creation o f new insight and a changed

Nursing education
Nursing education is the process whereby students are guided, assisted and provided with means that enable them to learn the art and science o f nursing so that they can apply it to the nursing care o f people who need such care (M ellish et al 1988:7).The ultimate goal o f nursing education is the pro duction o f a highly skilled professional practitioner with ana lytical and critical thinking skills at the first level, which is that of registered nurses, registered with the South African Nursing Council.

Research design and method
A qualitative approach was used because it would be more effective to explore and describe the perceptions o f students with regard to a poster presentation as an evaluation method to facilitate critical and reflective thinking within the context of nursing education (Bums & Grove, 1993:28-29;M outon & Marais, 1990:204).

Data collection method
D escriptive naïve sketches w ere used for data collection (Giorgi in Om ery 1983:52) followed by individual interviews to validate the data and the findings.This method requires .
the researcher to allow, without bias, the perceptions o f par ticipants to unfold as they exist for the subject.Helpful clari fication by the researcher is discouraged so that the resulting description will be a true reflection o f the participants' per ceptions.Giorgi (in Omery 1983:52) indicates that because of the detail o f the complete description, the sample is usu ally sm all.The participants were asked to com plete naïve sketches on how they perceived a poster presentation as an evaluation m ethod to facilitate their critical and reflective thinking skills, and what recommendations they would make for the description o f guidelines on the effective use of a poster presentation to facilitate critical and reflective thinking skills.Field notes were taken to describe the dynamics and the re searcher's impressions, and to obtain supportive information for the collected data (Wilson, 1989:343).O f the population of thirty nursing students undertaking a post-basic degree in nursing, twenty students voluntarily par ticipated in the study.The other ten students did not attend classes on the relevant day.All the participants belonged to the five groups that designed the posters on a specific theme as their assignm ent for the semester.Fifteen black students were subjected to this form of evaluation for the first time.
Five white students were conversant with the method.The participants gave a written informed consent and their ano nym ity and the confidentiality o f the data were ensured.No time lim it was placed.The participants were given enough folio paper.N o disturbance was envisaged as it was far from telephones.All the participants were in the same venue and started at the same time.In forty minutes, all the participants had com pleted the naïve sketches.They were requested not to identify themselves in any way, nor to write the name of the institution, but to feel free to describe their perceptions on the topic.

Data analysis
The data was analysed by means of the descriptive method of analysis by Tesch (in Creswell, 1994:155).Both the researcher and an independent coder, who was purposively selected, ana lysed the data by using Tech's protocol and held a consensus discussion m eeting after one w eek to agree on the categories and sub-categories.To increase the credibility of the study, five students who were participants were purposively selected for individual interviews to validate the categories and sub categories.Following the com pletion of the data analysis, a literature control was done to recontextualise the data within the existing theoretical framework (Morse & Field, 1996:106).

Results and discussion of the results
Two m ain categories with sub-categories with regard to the perceptions o f the students emerged as positive and negative perceptions o f a poster presentation as an evaluation method to facilitate critical and reflective thinking in nursing educa tion.The categories and sub-categories from the data ana lysed are presented in table 1.

Positive perceptions
Facilitates creative, critical and reflective thinking skills All the participants acknowledged the fact that a poster pres entation facilitates creative, critical and reflective thinking skills-"It was stimulating; a good critical thinking exercise indeed because we had to debate and argue in order to ex plore different components o f the topic.We had to analyse and interpret the information, be creative in order to come up with striking, yet meaningful im portant aspects to be in cluded in the poster".Yet another citation: "This assignment improved our analytical and critical thinking.We were re flectin g on our p a st experience about the theme.I under stood better than when I had to write an assignm ent on my own".1933:16,70;Atkins & Murphy, 1993:1190;and Palm er et al 1994:108).
The first critical learning outcome o f the South African Quali fications Authority Act (Act 58 o f 1995:5) requires the learner to use critical and creative thinking skills, to organise and manage themselves and their activities responsibly and effec tively, and to collect data, and analyse, organise and critically evaluate information.SAQA's critical learning outcomes serve as a guide and a challenge to both the teacher and the learner to use teaching and evaluation methods that are learner cen tred.A poster presentation has been tested and proved to be one of the methods that could facilitate the learner's thinking skills.Indeed, the students diligently seek relevant information about the topic, be reasonable in selecting the significant criteria for inclusion in the poster, be focused on enquiry and persist ent in seeking the results that were as precise as the topic permitted, as evidenced by: "We really had to think; it was the fir s t time to do something like this, but we had to show insight into the learning content by putting only important aspects o f the topic on a hardboard meaningfully and attrac tively".The debate and arguments to justify their decisions as to what is to be included facilitated the students' thinking skills and thus learning took place.Both the cognitive and affective activities that took place to facilitate thinking and learning will improve the guidelines for the implementation o f this method of evaluation.

Group work facilitates learner
Facilitates problem-solving participation The participants perceived group work as one o f the im por tant strategies that facilitate critical thinking in that it en courages co-operative, shared and collaborative learning as evidenced by: "It was good working in a group, getting dif ferent ideas and filtering out until you have the best idea.We learnt how to work together in a group, reflecting and using past experiences; it was exciting and stimulating, and it u rn a true learning experience".The participants were also of the opinion that group work facilitates interaction and pro motes human relations, as cited: "Group interaction promotes human relations in that there is that respect o f other mem bers ' ideas and opinions as well as a trusting relationship One participant added: "Group dynam ics apply and empathetic understanding is developed.We had to tolerate each other regardless o f race and gender.Group work does pro mote learning.You gain knowledge and skills from other stu dents through active participation ".
Group work or team work is at the centre of outcomes-based education.The second critical learning outcom e (SAQA, 1995:8) requires learners to work effectively with others as m em bers o f a team , group, organisation and com munity.Teachers are required to reflect on, and explore a variety of strategies to facilitate critical thinking and effective learning.
A ctive participation, interaction, discourse, collaboration, sharing of ideas, availability o f resources, trust and respect through team work are integral to the process of facilitating critical and reflective thinking in clinical nursing education, state (Reilly & Oerm an 1985:41,44,77).Van der Horst & M cDonald (1997:27) argue that no reflective thinking will ever be facilitated if the learners are passive recipients of knowledge using rote-learning methods.Reflective thinking demands interaction as an underlying dynamic by employing learner-centred m ethods of teaching and evaluation where students are required to justify their decisions and actions through argumentation (Chabeli 2001:190).
The outcom es-based education approach enforces the active participation of learners in order to facilitate critical and rea soning skills.It encourages teachers to use group work or teamwork constantly to consolidate knowledge from past ex periences, and to interpret learning situations meaningfully (Van der Horst & M cDonald 1997:27).The participants stated: "Group assignm ent puts learners in a situation where they have to work together, take a lead in some instances to make o n e ' s stand known From the arguments by the participants as evidenced by lit erature, it becomes clear that a poster presentation does fa cilitate the critical and reflective thinking of learners through group interaction where discourse, co-operation, collabora tion, sharing of ideas, respect, trust, and willingness of learn ers takes place.

skills
With regard to poster presentations facilitating the student's problem -solving skills, the participants stated: "A s you en gage in debate, you argue and learn to justify and support your views and opinions with regard to the topic.You analyse the situation critically and learn to prioritise fa c ts in a m ean ingful sequence.Thereafter, you are able to evaluate the out come.In that way problem s are solved am icably".
Problem solving requires one to take time to collect data, weigh facts and think the matter through.Problem solving cannot occur by jum ping to conclusions; one needs to understand an idea (Kozier;Erb & Blair, 1997:224).Nurses who think in a rational, purposeful manner use logical reasoning in the de cision-m aking and problem-solving process in order to im prove practice.This means, according to Botes, (2000:29), that they can justify their decisions on rational grounds.C oncerning logical reasoning and argum entation, D ew ey (1933:133,232) is o f the opinion that without reasoning skills, no reflective activity will take place.Instead ideas, meanings and facts would heap up like grains o f sand.The meaningful construction o f knowledge should be done through discourse and the diaiogic m ode o f teaching and learning.As the par ticipants indicated: "Poster presentations require learners to work collaboratively in order to share ideas and thoughts, to interpret and justify their decisions responsibly, based on the existing evidence".To justify is to show justice or adequate ground for the truth (Little Oxford Dictionary 1986).
An effective poster presentation will be facilitated if learners engage in the critical analysis and synthesis o f information, and use their creative im agination and make inferences in order to draw conclusions as to what content is to be included in the poster to make it meaningful and attractive.Creativity involves the application of knowledge, imagination andjudgement to problem solving.It is guided and driven by the desire to seek the original.It feeds on flexibility and honours diver sity (Beyer 1988:297).Teaching learners to be creative and im aginative in order to improve their critical and reflective thinking skills rem ain a challenge to facilitators (Chabeli 2001:200).

Facilitates the student' s independence and a sense of ownership
The participants perceived a poster presentation as an evalu ation method that increases their independence and a sense of ownership: "A poster presentation as a group assignment was exciting, stimulating and a true learning experience with fun.Everybody in a group was willing to share ideas and was ready to learn.It was a real challenge, and a positive experi ence.Surely, we can do it better next time because now we know what is expected.It was much more fu n than a test though Referring to the principles of poster presentations, the par ticipants indicated: " Now I know the principles o f a poster presentation: that it m ust be clear, neat, big, colourful and striking to attract the reader.It was interesting that we were able to identify our strengths and weaknesses, to fe e l that you own your work, you are independent.What was even more challenging was to be given an opportunity to defend our poster and state the reason why certain information was in cluded in the poster.This was a real challenge as we dialogued with a panel o f evaluators.It made us fe e l good and it was fu n to fe e l independent and have a sense o f ow nership".
Indeed, the learners are expected to take responsibility for their own learning and for taking full control and m onitoring their own learning activities.Slabbert (1991b:70) refers to this ability as meta-learning.Slabbert defines m eta-learning as the ability of the learners to plan, execute, m onitor and evaluate their own learning, and develop an awareness of their m ental processes.L earners decide how learning w ill be achieved, they assess learning activities realistically, and are aware of their own mental or cognitive abilities, learning abili ties, learning styles and learning skills.It can be concluded that a poster presentation as a method o f evaluation, if ad equately used, can facilitate the learner's critical and reflec tive thinking skills as well as lifelong learning skills.

Evaluation is fair
The use o f a panel o f evaluators in a poster presentation was perceived by the participants as positive and fair, as cited: "However, evaluation was fa ir in that it was done by fo u r evaluators, which made us fe e l good because the credibility o f the m ethod was increased.We recommend that poster pres entations be done even next year, and m ost important, to be introduced to the basic training o f student nurses".
To evaluate, according to Beyer (1988:334) and Vand der Horst and M cD onald (1997:169), is to determine the worth, accu racy or com pleteness, judging, appraising and assessing the process o f making a decision about the learning of the learner by using the inform ation gained from formal and informal assessment.Evaluation answers the question "How good?" or "How w ell?".The principles o f evaluation such as objec tivity, relevance, clear criteria, validity, reliability, com pre hensiveness and being propedious (leading to the acquisition o f new know ledge) should be considered (M ellish et al 1998:228-229).
A poster presentation provides objectivity in that the criteria and guidelines for presentation and evaluation are provided.Inter-rater reliability is m easured by using a panel o f evalua tors where learners are allowed to defend, argue and justify their standpoint with regard to what and why certain content was included in the poster.It is propedious in that the learn ers learn and grow from the evaluation.

Negative perceptions
Lack of clarity of the student's expectation Some participants expressed their negative perceptions con cerning the lack of clarity about what was expected from them, as stated: "It seem ed as if there was m isunderstanding re garding how the poster had to be presented.Some students had mostly pictures while others only text.What was expected?Everybody m ust understand, please ".Another perception indicated: "It was difficult to actually get what was expected o f us, what to actually p u t on the poster, whether to p u t more pictures than words.We did not have clear guidelines on the critical elements to be included, that is, one did not know what to expect.More explanation and examples would have helped".
As much as guidelines and the criteria for evaluation were given to all the students, because it was the first time they were exposed to this type of evaluation, some students needed more descriptive guidelines and exam ples from good previ ous posters.According to Knowles (in M ellish et al 1998:67), learners as adult learners have the right to know what is ex pected from them.They should be involved in decisions about their learning, encouraged to form ulate their own learning objectives, identify their own learning resources and use their strategies in order to achieve th e ir learning objectives.Knowles believes that learners should be involved in evaluat ing their learning, preferably through qualitative evaluation methods.A poster presentation uses the principles of adult learning in that learners take part in their own evaluation and are satisfied with the outcome o f the evaluation.How ever, many more descriptive guidelines should be give to the student as well as a good example o f a poster from previous groups.

Group activity is difficult
Some participants experienced difficulty in group activity because they felt it was time consuming especially since they lived far apart and could only m eet once a week.Besides, some students dominated the group and this made some group members uncomfortable, as indicated: "Students staying at different places made it impossible to get together as a group.Some people want to run the show, so it is difficult to work in a group whose members are not co-operative.The problem was compounded by students not having any background ex perience in the designing o f a poster.Non-participation from other group members is frustrating Group work and team spirit is the backbone o f the outcomesbased education approach in order to facilitate critical think ing and learning (SAQA, 1995:8).OBE is increasingly gain ing ground in the broader educational spheres in South A f rica (M ellish et al 1998:99).Group work encourages co-op erative learning and m axim ises team learning.Teachers should encourage group work and organise small group num bers, that is, not more than five members in a group who are heterogenous in nature to promote inter-racial socialisation (B iehler & Snow m an, 1991:257, 258, 263;M ellish et al 1998:118).Students should be allowed to choose members of the group themselves in order to avoid the negative percep tions, as indicated.Guidelines for the effective use of a poster presentation as an evaluation method to facilitate critical and reflective thinking skills will be described.

Guidelines for the effective use of a poster presentation as an evaluation method in nursing education
Through deductive analysis and synthesis, the following guide lines were inferred in accordance with the identified themes.Technical aspects are included as they were also deduced from the study.

•
The purpose of a poster presentation used as an evalu ation method should be clearly explained to the stu dents.The purpose should be directed at one specific aim.
• A poster should be clear, neat, large enough, accurate, creative, com prehensive, colourful and striking to at tract the reader.

To facilitate critical and reflective thinking
First, the group m em bers should be willing, openminded, committed, flexible, enthusiastic, responsible and accountable for their own actions.
The group members should have an empathetic un derstanding, respect and a trusting relationship.
They should diligently seek relevant information about the topic and identify the kind of evidence that would exist if the claims were true, and that should exist if the claim were untrue.
They should be reasonable in selecting the significant criteria for inclusion in the poster.
They should appreciate the process of argument mak ing and argument analysis.
They should critically analyse and interpret informa tion through discourse and argumentation.
They should distinguish the relevant from the irrel evant.
They should evaluate the reasons for the inclusion of the content (accuracy, sufficiency and significance).
They should place the information on a hardboard meaningfully and attractively.

Group work facilitates learner participation
• Encourage active participation of learners in sharing of ideas and thoughts through interaction.
• Encourage cooperative and collaborative learning.
Facilitating problem-solving skills • Take time to collect information, weigh facts and con sider the matter thoroughly.
• Think rationally, purposefully and use logical reason ing in the decision making and solving o f problems.
• Use creative imagination and make inferences in or der to draw conclusions as to what is to be included in the poster to make it meaningful.
Increase the learner's independence and a sense of ownership • Identify and reflect on your strengths and weaknesses.
• Defend your decisions made on the poster based on evidence.
• Acknowledge your independence and a sense o f ow n ership in your work.

Fair evaluation
• Evaluation should be objective, relevant, valid, reli able, propedious and have clearly defined criteria for evaluation.
• Engage in self-assessment and verbalise the assess m ent findings to the panel of evaluators.
• Use a panel of evaluators.
Consider the student's expectations • Involve the students in the decisions about the plan ning and formulation of the learning objectives with regard to the poster presentation as an evaluation method.
• Provide explicit and descriptive guidelines to the use o f a poster as an evaluation method.
• Give learners the opportunity to defend their decisions on the inclusion o f the content in the poster.
• Provide the students with a good example o f a poster from the previous groups.

Encourage group activity
Encourage participation by all group members.
Every group should elect a group leader to direct the group activities.
Allow students to choose members of the group them selves.
Group members should not exceed five (5).
Place the emphasis on non-domination by other mem bers of the group.
Encourage heterogenous groups to promote inter-ra cial socialisation and cultural sensitivity to maximise learning.

Conclusion
In response to the recom mendation made in C habeli 's, arti cle (2001:91), which stated that further research should be made to explore the use of alternative methods o f assessm ent and evaluation in order to evaluate the learner's com petence in nursing education, a poster presentation was used on postbasic students where their perceptions were described to es tablish w hether it could facilitate the critical and reflective thinking o f learners in nursing education.The study has re vealed that a poster presentation, used effectively as an evalu ation m ethod can facilitate the learner's critical and reflec tive thinking.Guidelines to use posters effectively as an evalu ation m ethod are described.The participants also recom m ended that the strategy be used on basic students to facili tate their thinking skills.
Hierdie artikel wil bepaal of plakkaataanbieding van 'n s p e s ifie k e te m a 'n stu d e n t se d e n k v a a rd ig h e d e in v e rp le e g k u n d e kan fa s ilite e r. 'n K w a lita tie w e , o n d e rs o e k e n d e , b e sk ry w e n d e en k o n te k s tu e le navorsingsontwerp is gebruik.Twintig studente het met ondertekening van oorw oe toestem m ing in die studie d e e lg e n e e m .B e sk ry w e n d e n a ie w e s k e ts e is v ir datainsam eling gebruik en is opgevolg met individuele onderhoude om bevindinge toe staaf.D ata is deur middel

PosterA
poster is normally a square or rectangular piece of fairly strong paper or hardboard on which information is visually displayed in a meaningful and orderly way.The purpose of a poster is to draw attention, elicit interest and create a gener-ally enjoyable learning environm ent.It motivates the learner and assists the unlocking of the content.A poster should be aesthetically inviting and instructive (Van der Merwe, 2001:5).

Table 1 :
Perceptions of students with regard to a poster presentation as an evaluation method to facilitate critical and reflective thinking skillsCategorySub-

categoiy Positive Perceptions • Facilitates creative, critical and reflective thinking skills • Group work facilitates learner participation • Facilitates problem -solving skills • Increases learner's independence and a sense o f ownership • Evaluation is fair N egative Perceptions • Lack o f clarity on learner's expectation • Group activity is difficult
perspective(Chabeli, 2001:107).A reflective thinker will dem on strate d isp o sitio n s such as self-aw aren ess, op en mindedness, enthusiasm, genuine interest, empathy, respect, trust, courage, commitment, perseverance, justice, responsi bility and accountability(D ew ey, 1933:16,30; A tkins &  Murphy, 1993:1190 and Palmer; B u m s& Bulman 1994:103) is indicated in the literature that critical thinkers are ha bitually inquisitive, prudent in making judgem ents, willing to consider, clear about issues, orderly in complex matter, dili gent in seeking relevant information, reasonable in the selec tion o f criteria, focused on enquiry and persistent in seeking results that are as precise as the subject and circumstances of the enquiry perm it (A m erican P hilosophical A ssociation 1990).Beyer (1988:64,65)argues that both critical and re flective thinking are creative in nature.Critical thinking is evaluative in that it involves the precise, persistent and ob jective analyses of any claim, source or belief.It seeks to judge its accuracy, validity or worth.Reflective thinking is delib erative and divergent in nature, and seeks to generate new insight and a changed perspective in relation to the existing conception.
Critical thinking operations are more complex and are dis tinguished by argum ent making and argum ent analysis in order to evaluate the worth and accuracy of a claim.H ow ever, both thinking skills are supported by affective thinking skills such as willingness, open-mindedness, self-awareness, respect, trust, courage, commitment, honesty, flexibility, en thusiasm, empathy, responsibility and accountability (Dewey, Engage in argumentation, justify and support your views and opinions based on evidence.Justify your decisions on rational grounds.
•Learn to identify and recognise a problem, and clarify key elements in problematic situations.•Prioritise facts logically and meaningfully and evalu ate the outcome.•