Learning Process of Nursing Students Through Concept Map Creation

Abstract

  A concept map promotes active learning among students. By creating a concept map, students are expected to develop the ability to clearly distinguish between related concepts, grasp the overall structure, and integrate different pieces of information. Hence, concept maps are increasingly being incorporated into nursing education. Research shows that generally, concept maps help students in visually understanding abstract concepts and promote deep learning. In nursing education, these maps support critical thinking, clinical reasoning, and integrate theory and practice. However, how these learning outcomes are achieved has not been fully explained. Thus, the purpose of this study was to clarify the learning process of nursing students through the concept map creation.

  Specifically, eight first-year students of the advanced nursing course in a post-secondary nursing school were tasked with creating concept maps as part of their coursework. Subsequently, a focus group interview was conducted to explore their insights and the impact on their learning. Finally, the interview data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using a qualitative synthesis method (KJ method).

  We found that concept mapping facilitated studentsʼ “use of metacognition: reflection and self-learning through metacognition of unclear connections”, “reconstruction of knowledge: reconstructing new connections to make them stick as knowledge”, “simplification of internalization and externalization: simplification of internalization and externalization through knowledge summarized by graphical representation”, and “experience of meaningful learning: breaking away from learning centered on memorization, which is inefficient for learning, and experiencing meaningful learning”. Additionally, they experienced “distress caused by knowledge expansion: distress caused by the need to expand oneʼs own knowledge”. The spontaneous “implementation of cooperative learning: activating studentsʼ teaching and learning through spontaneous cooperative learning”, together with the “gamification experience: gamification experience to overcome some learning preconceptions”, affected the overall learning. Learning content was used in the “application of prior knowledge: acquisition of knowledge that became the basis of related subjects and application of knowledge that became prior knowledge” for learning in other related courses.

  Clearly, creating concept maps can help convert learned content from short-term to long-term memory, thereby supporting learning in related subjects. It provides meaningful learning opportunities and promotes skill development, like social interaction, collaboration, autonomy, and active engagement through collaborative learning, experiencing gamification. As concept maps enhance the “use of metacognition”, “reconstruction of knowledge”, and “application of prior knowledge”, they can be effectively used in higher education, particularly for first-year students, regardless of discipline.