21st-Century Skills and Lateral Thinking Dispositions of Nursing Students: An Example Global Pandemic

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the 21st-century skills and lateral thinking dispositions of nursing students during the pandemic process. Speed of technological changes accesses the highest level in the current century. Following the technology and usability rate is going down among the world population. The ability of new technology usage created a new social class in society. This differentiation positively or negatively affects the social and economic status of modern human thinking ability, creativity, and life quality. Especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability of current technology usage made a big difference among people to access information and education. Methods: This cross-sectional study is descriptive and relational. The research was conducted with 409 students studying at the Faculty of Nursing of a state university in Istanbul, Turkey. Individual Characteristics Questionnaire, Multidimensional 21st Century Skills Scale, and Lateral Thinking Disposition Scale were used to obtain research data. The data obtained were analysed by number, descriptive statistics, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. Results: The results showed that nursing students were able to improve lateral thinking during pandemic. The male students have a significantly higher advantage of using technology compared with female students (p