News And Events

Department of Community Medicine

DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY MEDICINE “CONCEPT MAPPING”

PHASE II (2022-2023)-BATCH-E

Under the support of the Dean, Dr. D. Gunasingh, and the Medical Superintendent, Dr. P. Kuppuraj, the Department of Community Medicine at Arunai Medical College and Hospital, led by Dr. A. Balaji (Professor & Head), along with Dr. L. Sanjana (Assistant Professor), Dr. M. Mageshwari (Assistant Professor), Dr. S. Sakthipriyan (Senior Resident), and Dr. P. Shoraf (Senior Resident), conducted a concept mapping session on January 24, 2024. This session aimed at enhancing conceptual understanding.

Concept mapping

Concept mapping, pioneered by Cornell University Professor William Trochim, facilitates the organization and evaluation of ideas through statistical methods, providing a comprehensive overview within hours. Unlike traditional planning, concept mapping prioritizes individual stakeholder ideas, culminating in an organizational structure conducive to effective planning. This method fosters independent contribution and demonstrates the utilization of each participant's input. Particularly in contexts where time and literacy constraints are prevalent, concept mapping serves as an efficient and credible means of communication. In medical education, the adoption of alternative strategies aims to equip students for lifelong, self-directed learning. Effective reading, a foundational skill, is augmented by metacognitive, cognitive, and social learning strategies. Among these, concept mapping stands out as a metacognitive approach proven to enhance meaningful and independent learning. Originating from Cornell University in 1972, concept maps visually represent cognitive frameworks, aiding comprehension and assessment in medical education. Despite its potential benefits, concept mapping remains underutilized in medical education, offering opportunities for active learning and enhanced conceptual understanding among students.

Steps in constructing a concept mapping.

1.Preparation

2.Generation of statements

3.Structuring of statements

4.Lay out stage

5.Revising and finalizing stage

6.Evaluation

Implementation of Concept mapping during the clinical posting hours. Concept mapping was introduced as a teaching and learning method to the phase II MBBS students. THE PHASE II MBBS students were divided into 5 batches. In the last week of the community medicine posting batch, we conducted concept mapping session. On the day of concept mapping class, a brief introduction was given about concept mapping and the different steps involved in it. The posting batch was divided into four groups consisting of 7, 7, 8 & 8 students per group. Each group was given a different topic. The next step is brainstorming where the students come up with keywords or phrases related to the topic under discussion, this is also known as Generation of Statement. Third step is structuring of statements which involves grouping of phrases under a common topic. Fourth step is layout stage in which terms are arranged based on inter-relationship and connections among groups. The items are connected/linked in the form of a simple sentence that shows the relationship between them, this is called linking phase. Fifth step is revising and finalizing stage in which we re-arrange concepts to emphasize organization and appearance. We mainly used the spider type of concept mapping for preparing the concept mapping chart.All batches of students were assigned the engaging task of unraveling the intricacies of Diabetes Mellitus using the dynamic tool of concept mapping.

"Visualizing Understanding: Snapshots from the Diabetes Mellitus Concept Mapping Session"

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Faculty Facilitates with the students during concept mapping

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Dr.a.Balaji hod , department of community medicine judging the concept maps made by the students

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Students Mapping

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Concept Mapping - Feedback Analysis

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