Mind Mapping: Teaching and Learning Strategy for Physical Therapy Curricula

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSEAs health care professionals who use a patientcentered approach for managing a patient's plan of care, physical therapists (PTs) must effectively and efficiently integrate data from diverse health care perspectives. As PT educators, creating an environment that develops a student's critical thinking ability to support a patient-centered approach is our primary goal. The question as to which teaching and learning strategies may assist us in effectively developing active learning environments that foster student ability within a patient model is of paramount concern. Researchers within higher education and the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) are continually seeking evidence-based support for the effectiveness of diverse teaching and learning strategies. While the development of critical thinking has been proposed as an outcome of physical therapist educational programs, evidence supporting effective teaching and learning strategies that foster this development is limited. One teaching and learning strategy that has recently emerged in higher education is the non-linear learning technique, mind mapping (MM). Mind mapping, with its interrelated branching, may be a beneficial strategy to assist PTs and student PTs to critically think and link information for the development of an integrated patientcentered plan of care. The authors suggest that faculty must first realize the tenets associated with the teaching and learning strategy of MM in order to effectively utilize it for the promotion of student critical thinking skills. Thus, the purpose of this position paper is to discuss the tenets and theoretical rationale associated with MM, explore current literature on the concept, and inform PT educators of this teaching and learning strategy.Position and RationaleMind maps are often confused with concept maps, which have been widely utilized in primary and secondary educational environments to promote critical thinking skills using a linear learning approach.1 Concept maps have been used in the classroom as a means to develop a student's individual knowledge base while promoting knowledge sharing .2 Much has been written on the numerous benefits resulting from concept maps, based upon its visual representation of information which fosters what Novak termed a "graphic reconstruction of knowledge."2 The concept map is proposed to foster meaningful learning of new information via its integration with existing content knowledge. This mapping technique is supported by the cognitive learning theory, which suggests that learning must be meaningful in order to link new knowledge with previous knowledge.3The constructive theory of learning further supports the underlying premise associated with concept maps, suggesting that to make sense of one's experiences, meaning must be attached. In the development of the concept map, meaning is attached to the information via graphic reconstruction and representation.4 Concept maps are considered a graphic representation presented in a structured outline format, which seeks to demonstrate the relationship between ideas (Figure 1).Concept maps seek to establish relationships using a hierarchical process. This process can be viewed similarly to a tree with primary, secondary, and tertiary notions stemming from the base, which is the key concept of interest. Between branches, prepositional phrases are used to cross-link concepts, ideas, and thoughts.3 Concept maps have been used across the academic landscape, including in the preparation of health professionals in nursing6 and medicine.'Adult learning literature supports the notion that relational linking of new information to old information promotes cognitive knowledge development in the learner.8 Given the vast experiences a learner can relate to newly acquired information to develop a meaningful representation of what is learned, concepts maps are being explored as a means to support adult learning. …