A combined educational strategy of concept mapping and case studies can promote meaningful learning that associates with students’ analyzing and problem-solving skills development. Meaningful learning theory developed by Ausubel (1968) explains that meaningful learning occurs when learners link new concepts to the existing knowledge in their cognitive structure that represents the residue of previous experiences. Concept mapping signifies “meaningful relationships between concepts in the form of propositions that are two or more concept labels linked by words in a semantic unit” (Novak & Gowin, 1984, p. 15), and learners also figure out misconceptions and missing connections between concepts that are needed to construct new meaning. Concept mapping can be an educational method developing problem-solving skills as well as a tool for representing problems by learners (Jonassen, 2004). In the process of concept mapping, possible solutions to a problem can be found by understanding underlying concepts and their meanings related to the problem. Also, associations and relationships between the concepts and with other concepts can be discovered to solve problems. Especially, when students work with others in creating concept mapping, students present the ideas to build a common understanding and interpret the ideas in collaboratively (Gao et al., 2007). Concept mapping applied in case studies provides a context to integrate concepts gained and focus on issues and problems associated with the cases (Huang, Chen, Yeh, & Chung, 2012). So, students can have a systematic approach to find solutions to the problems by identifying underlying relationships between factors and associating issues with theories.
Students’ perceptions of learning promoted by concept mapping applied in case studies in comparison with that promoted by using case study alone were measured in a pre-nursing course. Forty-nine students were taught the concept mapping process including definition, purpose, layout, types of concept mapping, and how to develop a concept map were presented. The students were also given an example of a concept map and time to practice concept mapping. Then, the students had both learning activities of concept mapping applied in case studies and only case studies without the benefit of concept mapping. An instrument containing 15 questions was used to measure students’ perceptions in understanding content, increase in skills, and integration of learning. This instrument was developed based on for this project based on the Student Assessment of their Learning Gains (Seymour, 1997), and its overall internal consistency was established by a Cronbach Alpha coefficient value at 0.94. The students’ answers were given on a five-point Likert-type scale, and the answers were analyzed by using descriptive analysis. The data for the total of the survey items (N = 49, M = 3.91, SD = .86) reveals that the participants felt that concept mapping applied in case studies more effectively promoted their learning that case studies alone. The survey data for each item depicts that the participants agreed that they gained a better understanding of how to use a critical approach to analyzing data and arguments in daily life (N = 49, M = 4.08, SD = .73), felt they gained a better understanding of how studying nursing helps people address real world issues (N = 49, M = 4.02, SD = .83), and gained better skills in working effectively with others (N = 49, M = 4.10, SD = .74) through concept mapping as applied in the case studies as compared to having case studies only.
The pedagogical application of concept mapping can extend beyond the generation of care plans that have been mostly implemented in nursing education. Through concept mapping applied in case studies, students can have social interaction with others and explore new ideas and related ideas. As they find solutions to problems, they expect consequences for the solutions, and it helps them to adjust the gap between the new ideas and existing ideas in their cognitive structure. Therefore, eventually, students can learn how to effectively work with others and analyze data, and they can construct new meaning for how nursing helps people address real world issues.