Applying visual mapping techniques to promote learning in community-based medical education activities

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Community Health
• Pedagogy

Background:

• Community-Based Medical Education (CBME) requires active student engagement.
• Students often rely on factual recall over deep engagement in CBME.
• Visual mapping techniques were explored to address these learning challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of visual mapping techniques in CBME.
• To improve medical undergraduates' learning in Community Medicine.
• To help students overcome challenges in understanding multifaceted CBME content.

Main Methods:

• An interventional study with 60 medical undergraduates (30 per group).
• Intervention group used mind mapping & concept mapping after Community-Based Teaching (CBT) sessions.
• Control group used conventional Q&A with discussion; scores were compared via examination.

Main Results:

• The intervention group scored significantly higher (29.85 ± 3.22) than the control group (23.06 ± 4.09).
• Students reported visual mapping facilitated information recall and structured answers.
• Challenges included concept identification and relationship mapping.

Conclusions:

• Visual mapping (mind and concept mapping) is effective for multifaceted CBME.
• It promotes meaningful learning and rational thinking in medical undergraduates.
• This technique aids in addressing the comprehensive nature of CBME.