Development of students' critical thinking: the educators' ability to use questioning skills in the baccalaureate programmes in nursing in Pakistan.

Objective: To enhance the Critical Thinking skills of educators associated with the nursing baccalaureate programmes in Pakistan. By focusing on the type and level of questions asked by the educators.

Methods: Ninety-one faculty members from 14 out of 17 schools participated in the study. Data on the faculty's questioning skills was obtained through classroom observations and field notes. The duration of the observations was 45-60 minutes. Using Bloom's Taxonomy for cognitive thinking, questions were categorised into high and low categories.

Results: Most of the questions (68.9 %) asked by the participants were of lower levels, while some (5.37 %) were ambiguous. In many instances, the participants did not allow a sufficient wait-time for students to think and respond.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that educators must learn to use the questioning strategy effectively. They should ask higher level questions if they wish to inculcate Critical Thinking in students.