Investigating the Effect of Drawing and Implementing a Concept Map in a Group Method with a Computer on the Divergent Thinking of Nursing Students

Concept map is one of the effective methods in the evolution of medical education, which leads to the development of problem-solving learning, group skills and creativity, and is one of the important components of creativity in people with divergent thinking. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to determine and investigate the effect of drawing and implementing a map. It was a concept of group method with computer on divergent thinking of nursing students.

The present study was experimental in the form of pre-intervention and post-intervention with a control group conducted in 2017. One hundred and two participants from third to sixth semester nursing students participated in the present study. Using the random allocation method, 51 participants were assigned to the intervention group and 51 people to the comparison group. The intervention plan of drawing and presenting a concept map for adult/elderly nursing lessons 1, 2 and 3 based on the announced content of the approved title of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education was carried out in a group method using Mind Mapper software during 7 sessions of 90 minutes. Peter Hani's questionnaire was used to measure students' divergent thinking.

The mean and standard deviation of divergent thinking scores of students in the intervention group were before (5.68±1.22), after (8.23±1.35) and one month (8.70±1.18) after the intervention. The mean and standard deviation of students' divergent thinking scores in the control group were before (3.41±0.66), after (3.41±0.66) and one month (3.33±0.62) after the intervention. There was a significance between the intervention and control groups in terms of divergent thinking (p<0.001).

The average of divergent thinking score of the students in the intervention group was significantly higher than the control group, which shows the positive effect of drawing and implementing a concept map in a group method with the computer, so it is suggested to use this student-centered method in the teaching and learning process in higher education program.
Key words: concept map, computer, convergent thinking, nursing