Application of ‘Mind Mapping’ as a Teaching-Learning & Assessment Tool in Health Professions Education

Abstract

background : A 'Mind map' is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. These tools are simply a way to visualize a concept. It's an aid to studying, organizing, summarizing information, and writing. The research on the use of Mind mapping as a teaching-learning-assessment strategy has been done in health professions education including medical education in general as well as in specific subjects. Mind mapping is an aid in medical education and a potentially valid tool that can be used by students and teachers for multiple purposes. It particularly helps medical students to learn and organize information faster. They can communicate their ideas quickly and precisely in a diagrammatic form. For teachers too, it allows to monitor and assess the students understanding more efficiently.

Full text

JHSE Vol 4, No. 1
ABSTRACT :
Background : A ‘Mind map’ is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a
central key word or idea. These tools are simply a way to visualize a concept. It’s an aid to studying, organizing, summarizing
information, and writing. The research on the use of Mind mapping as a teaching-learning-assessment strategy has been done
in health professions education including medical education in general as well as in specic subjects. Mind mapping is an aid
in medical education and a potentially valid tool that can be used by students and teachers for multiple purposes. It particularly
helps medical students to learn and organize information faster. They can communicate their ideas quickly and precisely in a
diagrammatic form. For teachers too, it allows to monitor and assess the students understanding more efciently.
Key words : Mind map, medical education, learning
Application of ‘Mind Mapping’ as a Teaching-Learning &
Assessment Tool in Health Professions Education
Dr. Sonali G. Choudhari*, Dr. Priti Desai**
INTRODUCTION :
‘Mind mapping’ is one of the visual mapping techniques
that is used for displaying complex information visually. It is
the graphical organization and presentation of information.
The idea of displaying complex information visually is
pretty old. For example, ‘Flow charts’ were developed in
1972[1]pie charts and other visual formats go back much
earlier[2]. More recently, visual displays have been used to
simplify complex philosophical issues[3]. Formal ways of
‘mapping’ complex information as opposed to the earth’s
surface, countries, cities and other destinations began
at least 30 years ago, and arguably even earlier. More
recently, the use of information and computer technology
has enabled information mapping to be achieved with far
greater ease.
ORIGIN[4,5] :
Modern mind mapping has been around since the
mid-1970s, having been developed in its current form by
Tony Buzan. It works by taking information from several
sources and displaying this information as key words in a
bright, colourful manner. Mind maps have been described
as an effective study technique when applied to written
material.
A ‘Mind map’ is a diagram used to represent words,
ideas, tasks, or other items (in different colors, pictures)
linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea.
These tools are simply a way to visualize a concept. It’s
an aid to studying, organizing, summarizing information,
and writing. It is an extremely effective method of taking
notes and it also aids recall of existing memories.
FRAMEWORK OF MIND MAP:
In a mind map the main study topic is drawn at the center
with key words branching at divergent pattern. These key
words correspond to subtopics and then smaller branches
project from the subtopics with further details regarding
the subject being included in a progressively branching
pattern. These sub-branches of key words or pictures can
be linked together resulting in the integration of different
parts of the mind map
By undergoing this process, information initially
contained within passages of text becomes hierarchically
organized, with the most general information being
presented in the center of the mind map and material of
increasing detail being presented at the extremes.
Figure 1 - Basic structure of ‘Mind map’
TECHNIQUE:
The medium for drawing the mind map is usually
colored pens or pencils. Students can begin by drawing
an image in the center of the paper that reects the central
theme, or topic, of the mind map which is to be created.
Review Article
*Faculty- Dept of Assessment & Evaluation, School of Health Professions Education & Research,
Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru medical College, DMIMS(DU), Wardha (MS), India
**Head, Dept of Curriculum, School of Health Professions Education & Research, Dean Academics (Faculty of Ayurveda),
Professor & Head, Department of Rachana Sharir, Mahatma Gandhi Ayurved College, Hospital& Research Centre,
DMIMS (DU), Salod (H), Wardha(MS)
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JHSE Vol 4, No. 1
By placing this central image in the center of the paper
it allows the student 360 degrees of freedom to develop
their mind map. Next, the student draws main branches
with key words extending from this central image. The
branches represent different categories which the student
perceives as being relevant to the content of the key
concept of the mind map. From these main branches,
sub-branches are created. One key tenet of the mind map
is that each of the branches and sub-branches should
contain pictures to aid in recalling the information. These
sub-branches of key words or pictures can be linked
together resulting in the integration of different parts of
the mind map.
APPLICATION OF ‘MIND MAPPING’ IN VARIOUS
DISCIPLINES/FIELDS :
The research on the use of Mind mapping as a
teaching-learning-assessment strategy has been done in
health professions education including medical education
in general as well as in specic subjects. Anthony V.
D’Antoni et al(2006)[6] made use of Mind Map as learning
technique in Chiropractic Education and concluded that
use of the mind map promoted course material integration
and learning in physical therapy education and further
work is needed to explore its usefulness in chiropractic
education. Application of Mind Map as a new teaching-
learning method for Medical Immunology[7] revealed
that, it enhances the visibility and logic correlation among
knowledge points. It gives a good solution to the problems
existing in medical immunology learning and also
helps student’s divergent thinking and their innovation
ability. Even for gross Anatomy [8], Mind Mapping is a
better learning tool and helps to score better in written
examination when compared to standard note taking.
Genevieve Zipp and Catherine Maher (2013)[9], stated
that though the Mind Mapping is not used in many physical
therapist education programs primarily due to faculty’s
lack of awareness, but the faculty would be interested in
exploring its utility if they understood mind mapping tenets
and relevance as a teaching and learning strategy.
OTHER ASSETS OF MIND MAPPING:
a) Recall of information and critical thinking-
The Mind maps have also been examined for
effectiveness to improve factual recall from written
information. Farrand P et al (2002)[10] in a study found
that recall of factual material improved for both the mind
map and self-selected study technique groups of medical
students, at immediate test compared with baseline.
However, this improvement was only robust after a week
for those in the mind map group. At 1 week, the factual
knowledge in the mind map group was greater by 10%.
Similarly, Anthony V D’Antoni et al (2010)[11] tried to nd
out whether the mind map learning strategy facilitate
information retrieval and critical thinking in medical students
and revealed that although mind mapping was not found
to increase short-term recall of domain-based information
or critical thinking compared to ‘Standard note taking’, a
brief introduction to mind mapping allowed novice Mind
Mapping subjects to perform similarly to ‘Standard note
taking’ subjects. This demonstrates that medical students
using mind maps can successfully retrieve information in
the short term, and does not put them at a disadvantage
compared to ‘Standard note taking ‘students. Thus there
is scope for future studies to explore longitudinal effects of
mind-map prociency training on both short and long-term
information retrieval and critical thinking.
b) Promotion of student engagement-
While many researches done on investigating the
use of Mind maps as a teaching and learning tool to
foster critical thinking and clinical reasoning in students,
Genevieve Pinto Zipp (2011)[12]focused on the utility
of Mind Maps to promote Student engagement. It was
found that by requiring students to generate mind maps
on pre-class reading material they are more prepared to
engage in class activities. Similarly Wickramasinghe et
al[13]studied the effectiveness of mind maps as learning
tool for medical students and stated that majority from the
mind map group perceived it as useful tool to summarize
information and wanted to study further about mind
mapping.
c) Mind mapping as a teaching tool -
Sarah Edwards, Nick Cooper (2010)[14] explored
Mind mapping as a teaching resource. They insisted that,
though the Mind mapping is a technique not often used or
considered by many teachers but a busy clinical teacher
can apply this technique in a practical, useable way. The
investigator concluded that Mind mapping has many
potential applications to clinical education, and can be
adapted to many situations. It can be used as a teaching
resource, as an aid to preparing and reviewing lectures,
and the technique allows notes to be written and reviewed
quickly, and most importantly enables information to be
easily updated. Vilela VV et al(2013)[15]showed how
students and teachers can use mind mapping in teaching
and learning processes, contributing to better quality
and performance in medical education. It is a technique
that can be easily taught and learned and requires no
equipment or high costs.
d) Mind mapping as an assessment tool-
The Mind maps are also used as an assessment tool,
wherein maps as a gradable piece of student work, can
‘mind mapping’ as a teaching-learning& assessment tool in health professions education Choudhari and Desai
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JHSE Vol 4, No. 1
be assessed using a rubric. The rubric used should be
appropriate to the required learning outcome for that topic
and should not hinder exibility. D’Antoni, Zipp and Olson
(2009)[16], in their study, proposed a scoring system to
assess mind maps and examined the inter-rater reliability
of their scoring system. Generally, while using the Mind
map as an assessment method, the content and structure
of the Mind map would take precedent over appearance.
In addition, Mind mapping can be used in many
situations including problem-based learning, small-group
teaching, in a one-to-one context, as an examination tool
and for personal revision.
CHALLENGES OF USING MIND MAPPING
TECHNIQUE:
Though the Mind maps can help us enjoy an enhanced
creativity, a boost in memory retention and an enhanced
problem solving ability, still these are not without any
drawbacks or challenges. Individuals, who particularly
think in a logical way, may nd it difcult to trust their
creativity or innovation, which is required for making
any mind map. Another drawback is the time consuming
nature of mapping exercise.For hand drawn maps, limited
space/area available on the paper may sometime act as
an obstacle for 360 degree expansion of the key topic.
Once an individual has created and personalized his/her
map, it might be difcult for others to understand all his/
her ideas and concepts.[17]
SOFTWARE FOR MIND MAP :
Now days, various software are available for preparing
a mind map. These software are having good usability,
friendly interface and excellent features. E.g. XMind,
FreeMind, Mind manager, Mind Meister, MindMaple,etc
CONCLUSION:
Thus the Mind mapping is an aid in medical education
and a potentially valid tool that can be used by students
and teachers for multiple purposes. It particularly helps
medical students to learn and organize information faster.
They can communicate their ideas quickly and precisely
in a diagrammatic form. For teachers too, it allows to
monitor and assess the students understanding more
efciently. Mind mapping has its own advantages and
disadvantages. However, this doesn’t indicate that these
drawbacks can make this technique less useful.
Secondly, the combined use of learning methods
could compensate for the limitations of different individual
teaching-learning& assessment methods, enabling a
richer learning experience for students. Hence, mind
maps can be an attractive resource that can be added to
the repertoire of active strategies in teaching and learning.
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‘mind mapping’ as a teaching-learning& assessment tool in health professions education Choudhari and Desai
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Financial Support : Declared None
Conict of Interest : Declared None
Month of Receipt : December 2016
Month of Acceptance : February 2017
E-mail of the Author :
sonalic27@yahoo.com
Manuscript No. : 2017-08