Concept Maps as Replacements of Written Essays in Efficient Assessment of Complex Medical Knowledge Gloria Gomez, Robin Griffiths, & Pooshan Navathe (Chapter 10 in L. Shedletsky & J. Beaudry’s Cases on Teaching Critical Thinking through Visual Representation Strategies. IGI-Global, Hershey, PA.

Overview What follows is a short, much abbreviated summary of the chapter on replacing written essays with maps for assessing learning complex medical knowledge. This is based on a pilot study.

Purpose This study set out to determine whether or not concept maps could replace essays for medical students. Based on a review of the literature, it was reasoned that concept maps would: Assist students in remaining attentive and on task when critically thinking; Facilitate transferring theory into practice (e.g., writing research proposals; clarifying concepts); Aid in planning instruction, examination, and curriculum; Promote efficient assessment of student knowledge of complex materials;

Objectives of the Study Teaching students to understand how to build a good concept map; And to self evaluate their maps; Learning to use the software; To determine whether or not mapping was a good substitute for essay writing to assess student understanding of the material;

Procedure This study was carried out as a case study with 6 students; Students were taking an online course in Clinical Aviation Medicine; Students were trained to use mapping software; Students created maps and essays for course assignments; A map for assignment 1; An essay for assignment 2; A choice of map or essay or assignment 3;

Units of Analysis Students were marked for technical medical content to get at how effective mapping was as a learning tool; Student and teacher opinion provided evidence on the use, relevance, and acceptability of content maps as an alternative assessment tool (qualitative data); A time analysis was done for marking students’ maps and written assignments to get at the efficiency of maps for grading; Student and instructor comments were analyzed for their perceptions of the use of concept maps to get at: How easily students embrace mapping, problems in using mapping and likelihood of using mapping in more courses;

A Student’s Map of Complex Knowledge Working Toward Diagnosis

The Results This pilot study found that the teacher could assess the student’s mapping work far faster than the teacher could assess essays. The time estimated was roughly 12 maps could be assessed in the time it would take to assess one 2000 word essay. Instructors found the maps useful for determining student understanding; A few students were critical of the process of learning to make good maps; Overall, students were good at learning to build maps; Maps can be as effective as written essays in helping students show medical knowledge understanding; These results are based on a case study and would need to be tested again under more controlled conditions.

Conclusion Concept maps appear to be a suitable replacement for essays to learn complex medical knowledge and to assess the learning; Maps can be a suitable and faster alternative to assess deep understanding of complex medical thinking;

Resources List of additional resources Books Moon, B.M., Hoffman, R.R., Novak, J.D. & Cañas, J.J. (2011). Applied Concept mapping: Capturing, analyzing, and organizing knowledge. New York: CRC Press. Novak, J.D. (2010). Learning, Creating, and Using Knowledge: Concept Mapas as Facilitative Tools in Schools and Corporations (2nd Ed.) NY: Routledge. Mintzes, J., Wandersee, J. & Novak, J.D. (2000). Assessing Science Understanding. San Diego, CA: Academic Press Mintzes, J., Wandersee, J. & Novak, J.D. (1998) Teaching Science for Understanding. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Novak, J.D. & Gowin, D.B. (1984). Learning How to Learn. Cambridge and NY: Cambridge University Press. Learning How to Learn

Websites CmapTools software website: Research publications and white papers associated with CmapTools Cmappers: where the community builds knowledge: Concept Mapping Conference website. It includes proceedings since 2004: