Name: Jody Kittell

Article: TCM

Tools for Integrating Women’s Health into Medical Education: Clinical Cases and Concept Mapping .

Weiss, L.B., Levison, S.P., (2000)., Academic Medicine, 75, 1081-1086.

Summary:

Two teaching tools are described with their basis on the curricular goals established by the institution. These tools are case-based learning and concept mapping, and how they support cross-disciplinary, multidisciplinary, and interdisciplinary learning. A case is outlined, involving urinary incontinence, smoking cessation, and contraceptive options and described in detail. It is presented in the same way as the information would be contained in a patient’s chart: medical history, additional information that need to be included from the last visit, the current visit information such as the data from the physical exam and lab tests, and any new or persistent concerns. In ‘working’ with this case, students are encourage to create one or more concept maps to explore their understanding of the issues and the relationships of the new issues to any previously learned concepts, and provide a framework from which students develop their own issues.

A concept map is provided that defines current knowledge of women and alcohol use (not based on the case previously described). It is to serve as a blueprint for developing curricular goals and learning objectives by identifying a broad range of relevant potential collaborations between various departments and disciplines involved in women’s health medical education.

This approach enables students to take an actual problem delivered through a clinical case scenario and use it as a template for relevant learning, appropriate for the student’s educational development at the time.

Reaction:

I thought it was a good idea to incorporate two learning techniques in the study of a particular topic. However, I was under the impression for about half the paper, that the concept map would correlate to the case described in the paper.

Although this article is not directed toward high school students, I thought that the tools presented here, case-based learning and concept mapping, were something that can be integrated into a high school biology class. To encourage students to think on a higher level according to the Bloom’s Taxonomy, the development of case studies for particular topics in biology in conjunction with concept mapping can be utilized. The use of these tools together can reinforce the ideas being studied. It shifts the focus of learning from rote acquisition to visualizing the concepts and their inter-relatedness as seen in the concept map.