The effects of concept mapping applied in case studies in prenursing students' learning and perceptions of learning

In nursing education, there is a need for effective educational strategies to foster nursing students' knowledge, skills, and abilities that are required to succeed in the NCLEX-RN examination and to provide quality nursing care in the healthcare environment. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of concept mapping applied in case studies on nursing students' learning and perceptions of learning. This study used a quasi-experimental, quantitative, comparative pre- and posttest research design that had a convenience sample of 93 prenursing students consisting of 53 subjects in the experimental group and 40 subjects in the control group. The experimental group used concept mapping applied in case studies as an educational strategy while the control group used only case studies. Scores on two content tests of the experimental group were compared with those of the control group by using a MANOVA to compare the groups' learning. The participants' perceptions of learning promoted by concept mapping applied in case studies in comparison with that promoted by using case study alone were collected through a survey and analyzed descriptively.;The results indicated that there were no significant differences in achievement between participants who used concept mapping applied in the case studies and those who used only the case studies. Also, there were no significant differences in achievement on each of the content tests associated with the case studies between participants who used concept mapping applied in the case studies and those who used only the case studies. The findings of this study might be derived from several factors such as the circumstance of conducting this study, the participants' perceptions and comfort level with participating in this study, seriousness in taking tests, the brevity of the experiment, and participants' developmental stages.;Other results of this study indicated that students felt they gained better skills in working effectively with others through concept mapping as applied in the case studies as compared to having case studies only. Students also agreed that they gained a better understanding of how studying nursing helps people address real world issues through concept mapping as applied in the case studies as compared to having only case studies. Moreover, the felt they gained a better understanding of how to use a critical approach to analyze data and arguments in daily life through concept mapping as applied in the case studies as compared to having only case studies. These findings may be due to tasks that are involved in developing concept maps, a deep approach promoted by concept mapping, and the effect of concept mapping that promotes critical thinking. Concept mapping applied in case studies can be used to develop students' analysis, problem solving, and teamwork skills.