Mental models and meaningful learning

Department of Physiology, Rush Medical College, 1750 W. Harrison St., Chicago, IL 60612, USA. jmichael@rush.edu

If you understand something, you can use the information you have acquired to solve problems to which that knowledge is relevant. Meaningful learning is learning with understanding. Achieving meaningful learning begins with the building of correct, appropriate mental models, or representations, of the knowledge being acquired. The next step is learning to use the available mental models to solve problems. In many of the biomedical sciences, this means being able to either calculate something, predict the responses of the system, or explain the responses of the system. Since only the learner can do the learning, the only possible role for the teacher is to help the learner to learn. This means creating an active learning environment in which the learner can acquire the needed information, continually test the mental models being built, and correct or refine those models as needed. In an active learning environment, students are given ample opportunities to learn to solve problems. If the goal of the course is the achievement of meaningful learning, it is essential that the students then be assessed to determined whether they have reached that goal.

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