Background: The methods used in nursing education to teach and learn are always being improved. Due to difficult exams and advanced clinical practise, students must develop their critical thinking skills. Nurse educators' jobs involve guiding pupils away from the conventional linear mode of thinking and towards critical thinking. Traditional educational systems encourage memorization and inhibit critical thinking in the classroom and in therapeutic settings. To help nursing students develop their critical thinking abilities, the traditional nursing care plan needs to be updated with evidence-based therapies. One of the most effective teaching methods for fostering critical thinking is concept mapping (CM), which has been researched and found to be helpful. Methods: This true experimental research study at Sikkim Manipal College of Nursing, Sikkim, uses a pre-posttest control group design to compare the effectiveness of concept mapping in terms of change in critical thinking skills of nursing students in the experimental group as compared to the students receiving traditional care plan in the control group. In order to determine whether there is an interaction between the critical thinking abilities' pre-test levels and specific demographic factors, the secondary goal is to evaluate and contrast the critical thinking abilities of nursing students in the experimental and control groups before and after the assessment. The experimental and control groups will be randomly assigned to 96 third- year B.Sc. nursing students (46 in each group). Discussion: Student nurses must assess patient problems and make a diagnosis using nursing ideas. The faculties are responsible for developing efficient teaching strategies that enable nursing students to absorb and apply material. Concept mapping is one method for better comprehension of connections between concepts through knowledge segmentation. The goal of this study is to ascertain if nursing students who use idea mapping to plan nursing care make more progress than those who do not in strengthening their critical thinking skills.