Implementing Online Discussion and Mind Mapping to Investigate a Disease Outbreak

Area of Science:

• Public Health Education
• Epidemiology
• Online Learning Strategies

Background:

• The shift to online learning due to COVID-19 has limited real-time discussions, potentially impacting learning outcomes.
• There is a need for interactive methods to foster critical thinking and understanding of complex public health issues in virtual settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement a mind mapping activity to facilitate small group discussions on the 2010 Haiti cholera outbreak.
• To assess students' ability to identify cause-and-effect relationships within a large-scale public health crisis.
• To evaluate the application of learned concepts to contemporary pandemics like COVID-19.

Main Methods:

• Students engaged in small group discussions using mind mapping to analyze the 2010 Haiti cholera outbreak.
• Each student presented a unique article to their group, focusing on the pathogen (Vibrio cholerae), environment (Haiti), and hosts (Haitians) within the disease triangle framework.
• Learning outcomes were assessed via questions evaluating the recognition and application of pathogen-environment-host relationships.

Main Results:

• The mind mapping activity successfully facilitated discussions on the complex factors contributing to the cholera outbreak.
• Students demonstrated an understanding of cause-and-effect relationships on a large spatial and temporal scale.
• The activity enabled students to connect historical outbreak dynamics to current public health challenges, including COVID-19.

Conclusions:

• The disease triangle mind mapping exercise is an accessible and effective tool for teaching cause-and-effect in large-scale systems.
• This learning activity improved students' critical thinking and problem-solving skills in the context of public health emergencies.
• The approach successfully maintained real-time, discussion-based learning in an online environment.