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  Concept Mapping As A Tool To Promote Cognitive Integration

  Douglas B. Spicer, Sean M. Kilgallen, Rebecca J. Rowe, and Kathryn H. Thompson

  For 20 years there has been a push to integrate the basic and clinical sciences in medical school curricula. Recently, studies have suggested that cognitive integration by the student is best achieved when the relationships between basic science and clinical domains are explicitly demonstrated. Concept mapping in response to a prompt, which asks students to create relationships among clinical and basic science concepts, should provide explicit connections that lead to a deeper conceptual understanding of the material. We designed a study to test the hypothesis that concept mapping improves the ability of students to diagnostically discriminate between multiple endocrinopathies when compared to students who were provided with similar resources. We also looked to see if knowledge retention was correlated with concept mapping or the type of notes taken during studying.

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  Student Perceptions Of Integrated Vs. Separate Basic Science And Clinical Resources

  Kathryn H. Thompson, Douglas B. Spicer, Sean M. Kilgallen, Rebecca J. Rowe, and Barbara J. Winterson

  For 20 years there has been a push to integrate the basic and clinical sciences in medical school curricula. Recently, studies have suggested that cognitive integration is achieved when the relationships between basic science and clinical domains are explicitly demonstrated. In order to investigate methods that promote cognitive integration we performed a pilot study to develop and test different learning resources. We then surveyed students’ perceptions of these resources and analyzed how the resources affected their note taking. Our study suggests that the type of resources can influence the type of note-taking done by students, and that the process of taking integrated notes can enhance learning and retention. This was a pilot study and is limited by its small sample size. Additional research is planned to confirm and expand on these results.