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The author presents six strategies that have been used successfully to teach and assess critical-thinking skills in a pharmacology course. Within the context of pharmacology content, the strategies were designed to develop student abilities in making critical distinctions, critical decision making, analysis of assessment findings, and the anticipation of intervention results and possible side effects/consequences.

The author describes a teaching-learning strategy that helped students gain an enhanced appreciation for nursing theories and their application to nursing practice. Students selected, campaigned for, and elected a nursing theorist to serve as Vice President for a Nursing Theory Club. Through the campaign and election process, they were able to select and investigate a nursing theorist and apply the theorists' work to nursing practice. Campaign materials, campaign headquarter displays, and campaign speeches allowed for assessment of many program outcomes including effective written and verbal communication, critical thinking, professionalism, empiric knowledge, and aesthetics.