Teaching the Concept Curricula: Theory and Method

Abstract

Conceptual teaching in nursing education offers benefits over traditional content and fact-laden curricula, including the development of cognitive skills necessary for knowledge transfer across contexts and the ability to transform students into lifelong learners. The recent focus on active and learner-centered teaching techniques does not equate to learning conceptually, although it is a positive move away from teacher-centered techniques. A paucity of educational nursing literature exists that delineates both the theory and methods used to teach conceptually. We present a semiotic framework for teaching conceptually, in addition to outlining three core components necessary for conceptual learners: addressing misconceptions, developing enduring understandings, and acquiring metacognitive skills. Five teaching methods that are particularly fitting for concept-based curricula and useful across all program levels are described and outlined. Active and learner-centered activities can also be designed and adapted to develop the mindset necessary to learn conceptually.

An Empirical Investigation of the Conception Focused Curriculum: The Importance of Introducing Undergraduate Business Statistics Students to the “Real World”

“…Bristol and Rosati () stated that concept‐based curricula use concepts to provide structure and a coherent method for material to be grouped together for future reference. When educators teach at the concept level, concepts are learned through integrating factual information within a context so that concepts, not only facts, become the foundation of understanding (Hardin & Richardson, , p. 156). Students using the CFC model alter their old learning by integrating new ideas.…”

“…Concept-Mental categories for objects, persons, places, or ideas that have a common set of critical attributes (Birbili, 2007). Concepts act as cerebral files that help learners embrace form, structure, and patterns of material by generating intellectual properties for future understanding (Hardin & Richardson, 2012). "Concepts allow learners to structure learning by providing a coherent method for material to be grouped together for future reference" (Bristol & Rosati, 2013).…”

“…One means that is being explored is a shift to concept‐based approaches to teaching. Teaching conceptually focuses on how meaning is produced, and allows students to “integrate factual information within a context, so that concepts, not only facts, become the foundation of understanding” (Hardin & Richardson, , p. 157). Concept‐based approaches are becoming more prevalent as witnessed by their implementation in nursing (Giddens & Morton, ), biology (Halme, Khodor, Mitchell, & Walker, ; Morse & Jutras, ), biochemistry (Rowland, Smith, Gillam, & Wright, ), early childhood education (Birbili, ), social studies (McCoy & Ketterlin‐Geller, ; Milligan & Wood, ), engineering (Custer, Daugherty, & Meyer, ), mathematics (Eisenhart, Borko, Underhill, Brown, Jones, & Agard, , Rittle‐Johnson & Siegler, ), and more recently in business (Burch, Kendall, & Shaw, ).…”

Transitioning to concept-based teaching: A discussion of strategies and the use of Bridges change model

“…During this time, many of the grand theories being developed were used as a designing framework for nursing curriculums. [12] However, many nurse educators were unsure of how to teach conceptually. During this time faculty struggled to associate specific content to the concepts in the education of nursing students.…”

“…[6,10] Traditional pedagogical approaches in nursing education are no longer effective in preparing nurses to care for today's health care consumers in a variety of settings, as well as applying the knowledge, skills, and attitude to function as a competent clinician. [11,12] Nursing education literature is replete with publications demonstrating the need for pedagogical changes to the approach in which nursing students are educated. [1,3,5,13] Traditional pedagogy in nursing education has uniquely focused on a teacher-centered learning environment as compared to a learning setting that reflects a student-centered approach.…”