Cognitively-activating tasks, which learners deal with independently during work phases, are indicators of high teaching quality (Klieme, 2019). So far, it is unclear whether cognitively activating tasks are used in vocational education and training of nursing (Wesselborg, Weyland & Kleinknecht, 2019). However, high-quality teaching can prepare students for the increasingly complex supply needs and new tasks in the health care system (Bartels, 2005).

In Europe, one of the most reknown theoretical frameworks for high teaching quality assumes three basic dimensions, which impact students‘ learning: classroom management, supportive climate and cognitive activation (Praetorius et al., 2018). The framework is based on strong empirical clues, which indicate the relevance of the three dimensions in education research (Klieme, 2019). The construct of cognitive activation has in particular been found to predict students‘ achievement (Baumert et al., 2010; Decristan et al., 2015).

The construct of cognitive activation is mostly conceptualized through the use of challenging tasks, which encourage students to engage in deeper learning activities and to develop an elaborate knowledge of the learning subject (Klieme, 2019). Nevertheless, the use of cognitively-activating tasks is tightly linked to the specific subject matter (Praetorius et al., 2014) and needs to be conceptualized for the unique specifics of each domain.

So far, neither the construct of cognitive activation nor cognitively-activating tasks have been researched in nursing education. Challenging tasks can foster students‘ deeper thinking and domain-specific problem-solving skills to meet the increasingly complex care needs of patients (Bartels, 2005; WHO, 2010). This is also important because currently an increasing number of culturally and linguistically diverse students worldwide take part in nursing programs (e.g. Jeong et al., 2011). Accordingly, teaching with adaptive and at the same time challenging tasks that enable each student to gain a conceptual understanding of nursing is an indispensable goal in nursing education.

Against this background, the current study aims to gain insight into the quality of tasks and potentially cognitively-activating subject-specific content.

To reach this aim four research questions were outlined to guide this study:

1. Which criteria are described by nurse teachers in the vocational education and training in nursing to design cognitively-activating tasks?
2. What potential for cognitive activation do tasks in the vocational education and training in nursing contain?
3. Which domain-specific matters are especially cognitively-activating in the vocational education and training in nursing?
4. What connection exists between the criteria described by nurse teachers in the vocational education and training in nursing to design cognitively-activating tasks and the actual design of tasks?

The project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) (funding code 497938308).

The current study is carried out in a mixed-methods design. Nurse teachers (n = 20) are interviewed about their criteria to create challenging, and thus potentially cognitively-activating tasks. In addition, learning tasks (n = 60) from everyday lessons are assessed in relation to their potential for cognitive activation. To analyze these tasks, preliminary work is used. A subject-didactic category system has been developed to assess the potential for cognitive activation of tasks in the vocational education and training of nurses (Wesselborg et al., 2022). With seven dimensions (which also include, for example, an adapted form of the revised taxonomy of educational goals; Anderson et al., 2001), this first instrument enables a differentiated assessment of the potential for cognitive activation of tasks in the vocational education and training of nursing staff. There is a need for further development, in particular with regard to subject-specific differentiation. Based on the results of the task design criteria of the nurse teachers surveyed and the results of the task analysis, this category system can be further differentiated. The interviews are analyzed deductively. The dimensions of the category system for surveying the potential for cognitive activation of tasks are used as the central categories. In addition, inductive categories can be formed (Mayring, 2019). The results of the different research methods are then triangulated and compared for similarities and differences (Denzin, 1989).

The first results of the interview analysis show, that nurse teachers often use cases to design tasks. When asked about design criteria to design cognitively-activating tasks the included nurse teachers weren`t aware of specific dimensions that are connected to the concept of cognitive activation. When confronted with relevant dimensions based on the subject-didactic category system to assess the cognitively-activating potential of tasks in the vocational education and training of nurses, however the teachers are quickly able to apprehend the presented dimensions. Furthermore, they can categorize their tasks alongside these dimensions and therefore analyze the cognitively-activating potential. The first results hint at a gap between explicit and implicit knowledge of nurse teachers in the field of relevant dimensions to foster cognitive activation of nursing students and domain-specific criteria to design cognitively-activating tasks. Nevertheless, the subject-didactic category system to assess the cognitively-activating potential of tasks in the vocational education and training of nurses seems to contain relevant domain-specific dimensions. Prospectively, these dimensions can be utilized by nurse teachers to increase or decrease the potential for cognitive activation in learning tasks in the vocational education and training of nurses. Thus, the results of this study contribute to create an adaptive learning setting in in the vocational education and training of nurses.

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