Concept mapping: A strategy for promoting meaningful learning in medical education

Abstract

Concept mapping is an educational tool that encourages meaningful learning. Fostering meaningful and self-directed learning among medical students is now recognized as a major goal of medical educators (ACME-TRI Report, 1992). Meaningful learning (learning with understanding) is much stronger and longer-lasting than rote learning (learning by memorization) because students address the conceptual meaning of the knowledge being learned, and link this new information with previous knowledge.Concept mapping is an active, creative, visual and spatial learning activity in which concepts are organized according to their hierarchical relationships. Linking words are used to describe the relationships among the concepts. To create a concept map, students must understand the information that will appear in the map. Students must also relate and integrate the concepts that will be recorded in the map. As a result students replace unidirectional linear organization with thinking which proceeds in multiple directions. This improves long-term information retention, reduces verbatim retention of non-meaningful information, and improves transfer of knowledge in future problem solving activities.Interested students and faculty can acquire concept mapping skill through a 2–3 hour workshop. Participants are given a brief overview of meaningful learning and concept mapping. Then, with guidance from workshop facilitators, they create their own concept maps. Next, a debriefing session is held for participants to discuss their experience with concept mapping. Finally, to consolidate and enhance newly developed concept mapping skills, follow-up mapping activities are assigned.Once students acquire concept mapping skill, they can use it to: (1) organize and integrate information; (2) assess existing knowledge; (3) gain insights into new and existing knowledge; and (4) relate basic science concepts to clinical presentation of the patient. Students can continue to use concept mapping as they go through clinical clerkships and residency programs. As practicing physicians they can use the method to gain a meaningful understanding of new concepts and to integrate these new concepts with prior concepts retained in long-term memory.