Using concept maps in a nurse internship program.

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Educational Psychology
• Knowledge Assessment

Background:

• Concept maps are visual tools illustrating relationships between concepts.
• They promote holistic understanding over fragmented knowledge.
• Assessing knowledge and critical thinking in nursing education is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the utility of concept maps for assessing knowledge and critical thinking.
• To document baseline knowledge and learning gains in inexperienced nurses.
• To explore concept mapping as an authentic assessment method in a specialty internship.

Main Methods:

• Concept maps were administered as a pretest to establish baseline knowledge.
• Posttesting with concept maps measured knowledge acquired after training.
• The study involved inexperienced nurses in a specialty internship program.

Main Results:

• Concept maps effectively documented changes in knowledge.
• The visual nature of concept maps allowed for assessment of critical thinking.
• Authentic assessment of learning was achieved through pre- and post-testing.

Conclusions:

• Concept maps are a valuable tool for assessing nursing knowledge and critical thinking.
• This method provides authentic and holistic evaluation of learning.
• Concept mapping can enhance specialty internship programs for nurses.