Evaluation of concept mapping in an associate degree nursing program.

The purpose of this project was to evaluate concept mapping as a clinical teaching-learning activity that reflects critical thinking by promoting identification of nonlinear relationships among the components of the nursing process. The sample involved 28 associate degree nursing students from one graduating class. Students completed one map each in the second and fourth semesters and two maps in the fifth semester, for a total of four concept maps. The students' learning activity was to create a concept map on a blank sheet of paper describing the clients' physiological and psychosocial needs and nursing care and the relationships among concepts. As students progressed through the curriculum, there was a steady increase in the mean scores and the average number of cross-links in their concept maps. Cross-links indicated students' ability to use nonlinear thinking to identify relationships among concepts. The results of this study support the use of concept maps as an effective teaching-learning activity and support concept mapping as an evidence-based nursing education strategy.