Clear Concepts: Using Visual Organizers to Simplify Nursing Education
Using Student-Generated Visual Organizers
I remember taking a quiz during my education to determine my "learning style"—whether I was a visual, auditory, verbal, or kinesthetic learner. While the theory of fixed learning styles has since been debunked (see this article), there is a lesson here. Learners benefit when educators use varied teaching modalities, including visual elements. This article will focus on using student-generated visual organizers as a teaching tool in nursing education.
What the Research Shows
Visual examples help with retention, evoke curiosity and engage the learner in creating, which can all help the learning stick. And research across disciplines has shown that when graphic organizers are used, student learning improves (Hall & Strangman, 2002).
Using visual organizers in nursing education taps into a powerful aspect of how the human brain learns. Here are a few learning theories that support the use of visuals in learning:
🧬 Dual Coding Theory (Allan Paivio):
Dual Coding Theory suggests that combining visual and verbal inputs strengthens learning because the brain stores the information in two formats, making it easier to retrieve later.
📚 Application: Presenting nursing concepts visually and verbally helps reinforce memory retention. For example, pairing a diagram with a verbal explanation of the cardiac cycle can improve understanding and recall.
🏗️ Cognitive Load Theory (John Sweller):
Cognitive Load Theory emphasizes that reducing mental strain through structured visual aids helps learners focus on essential information without becoming overwhelmed.
📚 Application: Visual organizers like flowcharts or concept maps can help reduce cognitive load by breaking down complex information into manageable chunks, boosting students' confidence in their understanding.
🚶🏽➡️Adult Learning Theory (Malcolm Knowles):
Knowles’s Adult Learning Theory posits that varied instructional methods—especially those using visuals—boost motivation and relevance, which is critical in adult education.
📚 Application: Visuals combined with active learning (like annotating or organizing information) make content more engaging for adult learners, such as nursing students, who benefit from interactive and applied learning.
💻 Information Processing Theory:
This theory supports that the brain can process visuals up to 60,000 times faster than text, making visuals particularly effective for presenting detailed or complex information quickly.
📚 Application: In fast-paced fields like nursing, where quick information retrieval is crucial, visual organizers help streamline the learning process. A graphic organizer on infection control protocols, for example, provides a quick visual summary that students can easily refer to.
🧠 Spatial and Visual Memory (Ulric Neisser):
Cognitive psychologists like Ulric Neisser have found that humans naturally use spatial and visual memory, making organizing nursing concepts visually a powerful tool for understanding and retaining information.
📚Application: Mapping out body systems or drug classes visually helps nursing students connect concepts spatially, aiding deeper comprehension and retention. Organizers like Venn diagrams or comparison charts are effective for topics like pharmacology and anatomy.
These theories support the idea that visual organizers can be an excellent teaching tool, empowering students and giving them ownership of their learning. Let’s discuss how to use them:
Using Graphic Organizers as a Nurse Educator
Graphic organizers work best when the learner chooses and creates the organizer themselves. As students often struggle with “how” to take notes, teaching them about the different types of graphic organizers can be an excellent way to build note-taking and study skills.
Graphic organizers can help students notice and evaluate information they have learned differently. A sketch, chart, or diagram can allow students to make connections, create scaffolding, and categorize information for easy future reference.
The concept map is the most common visual organizer used in nursing education. There are many resources, tools, and examples online if you want to learn more about concept mapping. For this article, I want to review a few other practical, easy-to-implement visual organizers. Each one has a template link that you can access in Canva and modify to fit your course or clinical. Here are a few examples:
Venn Diagram
Use this to compare and contrast two or more ideas or concepts
💡 Ideas for Using
Students who are researching types of nursing roles they may be interested in for a leadership course.
In post-conference, comparing three patients with similar diagnoses.
Comparing different types of hypertensive medication in a pharmacology course.
T-Chart
Use this chart to break down large concepts into smaller chunks.
💡 Ideas for Using
Students create a chart for assessment findings in hyper and hypo versions of electrolyte imbalances.
Use the chart to compare “before” and “after” nursing interventions in post-conference.
Compare findings in left vs right-sided heart failure.
KWL Chart
Use this organizer for reflection exercises or as an assessment during a lesson.
💡 Ideas for Using
Students reflect on what they know or have experienced regarding a nursing skill before learning it in the lab.
Measuring knowledge at the end of a unit or before an exam.
As a formative clinical assessment tool, asking students to complete it at the beginning of a clinical rotation and at the end.
Cycle Chart
Use a cycle chart for learning a process that repeats itself or concepts that frequently return to a beginning step.
💡 Ideas for Using
Students add notes to each phase of a menstrual cycle when learning about women’s reproductive health.
When applying the nursing process to a clinical patient, students fill in their specific actions for each step.
For expanding or reviewing pathophysiology, there are loads of cyclical processes there!
Other Ideas for Using Graphic Organizers
Graphic organizers can also be excellent starting points for discussion. Invite students to share their work, either in pairs, small groups, or the whole class.
This can serve as a formative assessment, allowing you to give in-the-moment feedback and direct the student’s thinking.
Build on the organizer after each unit, allowing students to make connections across a semester of work.
Use digital tools or include audio or video in graphic organizers. Many virtual concept map creators (including one of my favorite programs, Canva, offer virtual whiteboards) or software like Padlet or Mote allow for multimedia notes.
Incorporating visual organizers can be a great way to entice curiosity, develop a deeper understanding of complex topics, and encourage students to take further ownership of their learning.
Looking for active learning tools?
Check out BreakoutRN’s active learning decks.
They are ready-to-use activities that encourage group work, collaboration, and clinical judgment.