Establishing meaningful connections: the use of Concept Maps as a learning tool

Abstract

The constant changes in health professions, and the need for future practitioners to remain competetent means that students should be taught using meaningful and integrated learning strategies. Among the different strategies that help students retain information, develop critical thinking and reason to solve several difficulties; concept maps have been addressed as one such relevant approach. They are described as an organised hierarchical representation of mental understandings, linking a set of relevant concepts using verbs or phrases that give sense to the map. In this short communication the authors intend to discuss the current use and benefits of concept maps within health professions education, along with what constitutes an effective concept map and how it should be introduced to students.

Full text

83
AHPE Vol. 1 No. 2 April - June 2015
SPECIAL COMMUNICATION
ESTABLISHING MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS: THE USE OF
CONCEPT MAPS AS A LEARNING TOOL
Cesar Orsini1, Phillip Evans2
This article may be cited as: Orsini C, Evans P. Establishing meaningful connections: the use of Concept Maps
as a learning tool. Adv Health Prof Educ. 2015;1(2):83-5
ABSTRACT
The constant changes in health professions, and the need for future practitioners to remain competetent means that
students should be taught using meaningful and integrated learning strategies. Among the different strategies that
help students retain information, develop critical thinking and reason to solve several difficulties; concept maps have
been addressed as one such relevant approach. They are described as an organised hierarchical representation of
mental understandings, linking a set of relevant concepts using verbs or phrases that give sense to the map. In this
short communication the authors intend to discuss the current use and benefits of concept maps within health profes-
sions education, along with what constitutes an effective concept map and how it should be introduced to students.
KEY WORDS Concept Maps, Health Professions Education, Learning Technologies, Meaningful Learning.
In recent years, there has been an
increasing interest from researchers
in health professions education to-
wards the establishment of teaching
strategies centred on active learning
situations which provide students
with in-depth knowledge and skills,
and critical and creative ways of
thinking.1 Developing Problem solv-
ing skills and critical thinking com-
petencies play an important role in
the integration of theory and prac-
tice. However, traditional teaching
strategies have been focused on uni-
directional styles of thinking, which
may not be compatible with today’s
continuing changing contexts.2 The
constant changes in health profes-
sions, and the need for future prac-
titioners to remain competetent
in these environments, means that
students should be taught using
meaningful and integrated learning
strategies.1 Active learning strate-
gies have the potential to encourage
life long learning, and also to reduce
rote learning.3 Among the different
strategies that help students retain
information, develop critical think-
ing and reason to solve several diffi-
culties (e.g. PBL, CBL, role playing,
collaborative learning, case studies,
simulation), concept maps have
been addressed as one such relevant
strategy.1
Concept maps, originally intro-
duced by Novak and Gowin,4 are
based on Ausubel’s theory of learn-
ing.5 They are described as an or-
ganised hierarchical representation
of mental understandings, linking a
set of relevant new concepts to ones
the student already knows.1 In other
words, more general concepts are
located at the top of the map, while
more detailed concepts follow them.
A key component is linking concepts
that are near from each other, using
verbs or phrases that give sense to
the map, and finally cross-linking
concepts that are farther away (Fig-
ure 1).1 In order to produce a com-
prehensive concept map, a student
should understand, relate, and inte-
grate the background concepts and
information that the map will finally
reflect. These interactions between
different concepts replace unidirec-
tional with multi directional organi-
sation of thinking, improving aware-
ness of the studied information for
upcoming problem solving situa-
tions.3 Promoting meaningful and
self-directed learning are recognised
as major goals in health professions
education. Likewise, learning with
concept maps reflects the intention
of the learner to discriminate and
connect concepts, therefore sup-
porting meaning and learning.1
Concept Maps support visualisa-
tion of learning, integration of con-
cepts, manipulation of information,7
1 PhD candidate in Health Professions Education, College of Medical, Veterinary and
Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, U.K., and researcher at the Teach-
ing and Learning Centre (FEN), University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
2 Senior University Teacher and Director of the Doctoral Programme in Health Pro-
fessions Education, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences University of
Glasgow, Glasgow, UK, at the time the paper was written. He is now a professor
of Medical Education at MEDC Gifu University, Japan.
Address for correspondence:
Dr. Cesar Orsini
PhD candidate in Health Professions Education, College of Medical, Veterinary and
Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, U.K., and researcher at the Teach-
ing and Learning Centre (FEN), University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
E-mail: cesar.orsini@gmail.com
Date Received: February 11, 2015
Date Revised: February 13, 2015
Date Accepted: February 15, 2015

84
CONCEPT MAPS AS A LEARNING TOOL
AHPE Vol. 1 No. 2 April - June 2015
and linking clinical practice and the-
oretical knowledge.8 This may lead
to higher levels of critical thinking
and proper decision making abili-
ties.2 Moreover, several investiga-
tions report that concept maps have
in fact helped students improve their
critical thinking abilities.2,9–14 Addi-
tionally, they have been related to
anxiety reduction and to increased
motivation and success.15 In the lit-
erature, the use of concept mapping
as a learning strategy, has been re-
ported for more than 25 years.16
A recent literature review sug-
gested a growing interest among
health professions education,1 spe-
cifically in medical, dental, and
nursing education. Probably, be-
cause concept maps facilitate re-
tention of information, leading to
long-term memory. Moreover, the
retained information is coded in a
meaningful way, and it is also easy to
retrieve.12 After reviewing 35 studies
the authors concluded, four main
features of concept maps.1 Firstly,
(a) it promotes meaningful learning;
secondly, (b) it serves as an addi-
tional teaching resource; thirdly, (c)
it facilitates teachers’ feedback, and
finally (d) it can be used as an as-
sessment tool. In the reviewed arti-
cles authors indicated its usefulness
to support the development of crit-
ical thinking, to promote collabora-
tive learning and problem solving, to
stimulate meaningful learning with-
in problem based learning courses,
and that it effectively worked across
groups with different learning styles.
As a learning resource, students can
show creativity and mastery of con-
cepts within certain knowledge.
When giving feedback, it allows stu-
dents to clarify topics and teachers
to easily identify students’ misun-
derstandings. Additionally, no re-
viewed article reported detrimental
effects when using concept maps in
health professions education.
The ability to create concept
maps is an acquired skill; therefore it
is imperative that teachers and stu-
dents take the time to learn it. When
introducing concept maps, a three
stage protocol has been suggested.3
In the first place (a) an introductory
workshop is crucial for students to
understand what meaningful learn-
ing and concept maps are, here stu-
dents should familiarise themselves
with relevant examples and it is also
important to provide a guide on how
to create concept maps. Secondly,
(b) a series of follow up activities
are intended for students to prac-
tice and receive feedback. Finally,
(c) and only after going through the
previous stages, students can apply
this new skill in many ways and in
a wide variety of topics throughout
the curriculum.
As an active learning strategy,
concept mapping allows students to
‘discover’ learning, instead of being
part of a ‘receptive’ passive process.
Therefore, it can be of great use in
relating theoretical basis to clinical
problem solving situations, increas-
ing students’ skills of analysis, eval-
uation, and reasoning. Additionally,
traditional learning strategies have
been reported to suppress critical
thinking abilities of students, since
most is copied from textbooks and
lectures in a ‘passive way’. Thus,
FIGURE 2: A CONCEPT MAP SHOWING THE KEY FEATURES OF CONCEPT MAPS. (NOVAK JD, CAÑAS AJ. THE THEORY UNDERLYING CON-
CEPT MAPS AND HOW TO CONSTRUCT THEM. TECHNICAL REPORT, FLORIDA INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN AND MACHINE COGNITION 2006.)6

85
CONCEPT MAPS AS A LEARNING TOOL
AHPE Vol. 1 No. 2 April - June 2015
concepts are informed and not dis-
covered. When developing concept
maps, the content is actively dis-
covered and it’s internalised in a
meaningful way (i.e. new knowledge
is processed into long term memory,
being linked into prior knowledge)
instead of being internalised in a
rote way (i.e. memorising the mate-
rial without processing it and easily
losing it if there is no frequent rep-
etition).5 This is also founded in that
students’ ability to organise, relate,
and process information determines
their reasoning competencies in dif-
ferent work settings.17 In the case of
concept maps, ‘the concepts’ reflect
students’ awareness, whereas ‘the
links’ reflect the depth of meaning.7
Some individuals found that the
experience of the conventional tech-
nique of creating a concept map, us-
ing large sheets of paper, or creating
patterns with small index cards, was
slow and time consuming. Recording
and cataloguing the maps, linking or
transferring concepts from one map
to another was not easy. However,
recent developments in Learning
Technology have removed all such
limitations. Modern “touch-screen”
tablets and freely available soft-
ware, for example IHMC Cmap tools®
(http://cmap.ihmc.us), allows most
students the opportunity to build
their own concept maps quickly and
easily.1 These have the added ad-
vantage of being easily modified,
integrated with maps on new topics,
stored and shared easily with fel-
low students, and tutors. Examples
of concept maps are easily found. A
recent Google search, for example,
generated 18 million hits in less than
half a second (ref: Google-search
for “Concept Maps” undertaken on
02/18/14). Therefore the benefits
are available for very little cost.
Health professions education
students are expected to exhibit
competencies for critical thinking,
reasoning, and decision-making in
diverse circumstances, enabling
them to deliver better-quality
health care. Thus, benefiting pa-
tients, peers and their institutions.12
REFERENCES
1. Daley BJ, Torre DM. Concept maps in
medical education: an analytical lit-
erature review. Med Educ. Blackwell
Publishing Ltd; 2010;44(5):440–8.
2. C.G. F, Ferrario CG. Developing
nurses’ critical thinking skills with
concept mapping. J Nurs Staff Dev.
2004;20(6):261–7.
3. Pinto a J, Zeitz HJ. Concept mapping:
A strategy for promoting meaningful
learning in medical education. Med
Teach. 1997;19:114–21.
4. Novak JD, Gowin DB. Learning how
to learn. Cambridge University Press;
1984.
5. Ausubel DP. Educational Psychology:
Cogn View. 1968.
6. Novak JD, Canas AJ. The theory un-
derlying concept maps and how to
construct them. Florida Inst Hum Mach
Cogn. 2006;1.
7. Kinchin IM, Cabot LB. An introduction
to concept mapping in dental educa-
tion: the case of partial denture de-
sign. Eur J Dent Educ. 2009;13:20–7.
8. Daley BJ. Concept maps: Linking nurs-
ing theory to clinical nursing practice.
J Contin Educ Nurs. 1995;27(1):17–27.
9. Wilgis M, McConnell J. Concept map-
ping: An educational strategy to im-
prove graduate nurses’ critical think-
ing skills during a hospital orientation
program. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2008
Mar;39(3):119–26.
10. West DC, Pomeroy JR, Park JK, Gersten-
berger EA, Sandoval J. Critical think-
ing in graduate medical education: A
role for concept mapping assessment?
JAMA. 2000 Sep;284(9):1105–10.
11. Hicks-Moore SL, Pastirik PJ. Evaluat-
ing critical thinking in clinical concept
maps: A pilot study. Int J Nurs Educ
Scholarsh. 2006;3(1):0–15.
12. Atay S, Karabacak Ü. Care plans us-
ing concept maps and their effects
on the critical thinking dispositions
of nursing students. Int J Nurs Pract.
2012;18(3):233–9.
13. Senita J. The use of concept maps
to evaluate critical thinking in the
clinical setting. Teach Learn Nurs.
2008;3(1):6–10.
14. Daley BJ, Shaw CR, Balistrieri T,
Glasenapp K, Piacentine L. Concept
maps: a strategy to teach and eval-
uate critical thinking. J Nurs Educ.
1999;38:42–7.
15. Beitz JM. Concept mapping: Navigat-
ing the learning process. Nurse Educ.
LWW; 1998;23(5):35–41.
16. Novak JD. Concept maps and Vee dia-
grams: two metacognitive tools to fa-
cilitate meaningful learning. Instr Sci.
1990. p. 29–52.
17. Wheeler LA, Collins SKR. The influence
of concept mapping on critical think-
ing in baccalaureate nursing students.
J Prof Nurs. 2003;19(6):339–46.
Therefore, teachers are challenged
to develop learning strategies that
foster those characteristics. Initially,
concept maps may represent anoth-
er typical graphic representation of
knowledge. However, when under-
standing its basics and using it in
the appropriate way, a good concept
map starts to represent a quite sim-
ple instrument for learning, but at
the same time it is a sophisticatedly
complex tool with can promote deep
meaning.6
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
Both CO and PE were involved in every
part of the analysis, idea’s development,
write-up, and editing the final draft.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Authors declare no conflict of interest.