A capstone teaching project for undergraduate nursing students: development of a visual teaching-learning tool.

The purpose of this article is to describe an original teaching-learning capstone project designed to promote active learning by senior nursing students as they transition to professional practice. The centerpiece of the capstone experience is the creation of a three-dimensional educational tool called a Visual Project, which addresses the learning needs of patients, their families, or the nursing staff. Students create their project during the spring semester of their senior year, when they are paired with an experienced, baccalaureate-prepared nurse preceptor. Students present their projects to both the nursing unit in which they worked and the faculty and students of the nursing school. Students consistently express a sense of accomplishment when they present their projects and recognize that they themselves have undergone the same teaching-learning process that was the focus of their project.