Use of concept mapping as a facilitative tool to promote learning in pharmacology

To assess whether students find concept mapping a useful learning methodology to conceptualize and organize topics studied in CNS module of Pharmacology; and to evaluate whether addition of concept mapping assignment could help to improve examination scores.

An analytical study.

College of Dentistry, Jinnah Medical and Dental College, Karachi, Pakistan, from March to May 2009.

A class of 50 BDS students was recruited for the study. Two randomly selected groups of 12 students each, prepared concept maps in topics from CNS pharmacology which were displayed and discussed during tutorial sessions. The other two groups (n = 25) following the traditional teaching methodology, served as controls. Scores from best choice questions and short essay questions were compared between the investigational and control groups using the student's t-test with significance at p < 0.05. Feedback obtained after completion of the study was evaluated as percent response.

One-best-choice test of the control group showed a mean grade of 57.1 ± 16.7 vs. test group mean of 58.8 ± 13. For the short essay questions, control group obtained a mean of 52.3 ± 18.8 vs. test group mean grade of 53.8 ± 22.5. Both results were not significantly different (p > 0.05). However, feedback about concept mapping showed that the technique helped the students to conceptualize difficult topics in CNS pharmacology (86.36%). Concept mapping was particularly beneficial in preparing for exams as it provided a quick overview of the entire subject (68.68%).

Students found concept mapping as a useful pedagogical tool which could potentially be used to acquire meaningful learning in Pharmacology as a supplement to traditional teaching techniques. It was not found beneficial in improving examination grades probably because standard examinations and concept mapping measure different cognitive domains.