CONCEPT MAPPING - A STRATEGY FOR PROMOTING MEANINGFUL LEARNING IN MEDICAL-EDUCATION

Concept mapping is an educational tool that encourages meaningful lear ning. Fostering meaningful and self-directed learning among medical st udents is now recognized as a major goal of medical educators (ACME-TR I Report, 1992). Meaningful learning (learning with understanding) is much stronger and longer-lasting than rote learning (learning by memor ization) because students address the conceptual meaning of the knowle dge being learned and link this new information with previous Knowledg e. Concept mapping is an active, creative, visual and spatial learning activity in which concepts are organized according to their hierarchi cal relationships. Linking words are used to describe the relationship s among the concepts. To create a concept map, students must understan d the information that will appear in the map. Students must also rela te and integrate the concepts that will be recorded in the map. As a r esult students replace unidirectional linear organization with thinkin g which proceeds in multiple directions. This improves long-term infor mation retention, reduces verbatim retention of non-meaningful informa tion, and improves transfer of knowledge in future problem solving act ivities. Interested students and faculty can acquire concept mapping s kill through a 2-3 hour workshop. Participants are given a brief overv iew of meaningful learning and concept mapping. Then, with guidance fr om workshop facilitators, they create their own concept maps. Next, a debriefing session is held for participants to discuss their experienc e with concept mapping. Finally, to consolidate and enhance newly deve loped concept mapping skills, follow-up mapping activities ave assigne d. Once students acquire concept mapping skill, they cart use it to: ( 1) organize and integrate information; (2) assess existing Knowledge; (3) gain insights into new and existing Knowledge; and (4) relate basi c science concepts to clinical presentation a the patient Students can continue to use concept mapping as they go through clinical clerkship s and residency programs. As practicing physicians they can use the me thod to gain a meaningful understanding of new concepts and to integra te these new concepts with prior concepts retained in long-term memory .