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Basis of the Design of an Interdisciplinary Campus
I created the Concept Map as a tool to help students better remember and understand the concepts of undergraduate science. The image of the city of science began as sketches in the nineties when I thought the course might look like Myst and I would have made a ton of money in the dot com bubble if I weren't so neurotically afraid of the work becoming debauched in some way. The sketches grew into the long tradition of memory palaces as I studied and thought about it. The technique of constructing a memory palace, sometimes referred to as the "method of loci", has an old history. Although the technique is experiencing a come-back in modern times, it is not formally taught in university, but it should be! Formal instruction in basic memory techniques would enormously benefit future doctors, who face huge challenges of learning and retention with little guidance.
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Memory
In the ancient world, printing presses and affordable paper did not exist, so it was necessary in certain professions to develop memory skills far beyond what we are accustomed to. According to the description of this method by the Roman Senator Cicero in his work, De Oratorio, a memory palace is an imaginary mental structure, a visual representation of a garden, building or collection of buildings. The process of memorization involves the mind's eye placing and visualizing memory items at specified locations throughout the imaginary environment so that the facts and concepts become associated with specific locations within the imagined space. To recall the material at a later time, the mind's eye returns along the previous pathway, moving from building to building, room to room, recollecting the memory items. Astonishing feats of memory have been made possible by the technique, most likely, because it mirrors natural processes of cognition. Here is a link to a brief history of the technique.
To help students retain and organize their scientific knowledge, the buildings of the Wisebridge Concept Map correspond to the subjects of Physics, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Biology. Different styles of world historical architecture distinguish the areas of science. The buildings of Physics are taken from the ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Sumerian and Saleucid architectures. The Chemistry buildings are based on Byzantine, Gothic, and European Renaissance styles. The Organic Chemistry buildings are from classic Islamic architecture, and the Biology buildings derive from the traditional architectures of East Asia and the Indian Subcontinent.
Understanding
The Campus was specifically created to serve the web-based Exploration Environment within the Wisebridge MCAT Course. The Concept Map is designed not only as an aid for memory, but also as an aid to understanding (and web-based navigation). In other words, the campus is not only a memory palace; it is also a concept map. Concept mapping is a technique for representing knowledge that was developed by Joseph D. Novak at Cornell University in the 1960s based on the theories of David Ausubel. Ausubel believed that meaningful learning involves recognition of the links between concepts. Meaningful learning involves assimilation of new concepts into existing cognitive structures, so the most important aspect of learning is how new information is integrated into an existing knowledge base. Under the method created by Novak, in concept mapping, a body of knowledge is represented graphically with the concepts represented as nodes and the relationships between them as links.
 Rather than concepts being linked by simple graphical lines, the Concept Map tries to communicate the relationships among scientific topics using the spatial and design relationships among the buildings. For example, in Physics, the building for Newton's Laws shares a pond with the classical fundamental forces: Gravity, Electricity, and Magnetism. The interaction of the facades of the buildings across the pond is a design expression of conceptual integration.
 Proximity, design, and direction express conceptual relationship within the Wisebridge Concept Map. Let us look further at the Electricity building just mentioned and notice how its domed architecture is echoed in the General Chemistry quadrant by Atomic Theory, Chemical Bonding and Oxidation/Reduction & Electrochemistry. This is an expression of how chemistry is grounded in the physics of electricity.
Finally, take a look at Oxidation/Reduction and Electrochemistry. I tried to connect this building all the way across Chemistry into Biology where it is mirrored by Bioenergetics and Metabolism? The Concept Map helps us see Newton's Laws, Electricity, Chemical Bonding, Oxidation/Reduction, all the way to the Metabolism. It's a communication device for me to use in teaching. It tries to model the interdisciplinary understanding of science you are working to achieve in this course. Many conceptual design relationships are integrated in the design of the Concept Map.
Try to get past its oddity please, and take a practical perspective. Take your time with the Concept Map and it will reward you on the MCAT. Remember that the arrangements of buildings are communicating a structure of science. Walk different paths through it as a memory palace, recounting the subtopics of each chapter as you enter the buildings, using an old technique based on how the mind actually works.
Below is the 700 pixel version of the whole campus. Students of this course are recommended to post a printed copy of the Memory Palace near their desk. Click this LINK to download a 5000 pixel version to print yourself at Kinkos on 11 by 17 paper.
Next Orientation Topic: Designing your Course Materials
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