Objective To evaluate the effects of concept map strategy in the course of Pharmacology in secondary vocational nursing students. Methods Two classes of secondary vocational nursing students were recruited as the experimental group and the control group. Traditional teaching method and concept map was applied in the course of Pharmacology in the control group and the experimental group，respectively. The outcomes were evaluated using students‘ performance in final exam and questionnaires survey among students in the experimental group. Results The students’ performance in final exam was significantly higher in the experimental group than that of the control group（88.72 versus 79.71，t=7.959，P<0.001）. 61.54% of the students in the experimental group preferred concept map strategy very much. They agreed that concept map could motivate their learning interest（53.85%）， improve their self-directed learning ability（52.31%），cooperative learning ability（56.92%），detecting problem and problem-solving ability（50.77%）. Conclusion Concept map teaching strategy can not only improve academic performance of secondary vocational nursing students，but also motivate students‘ learning interest and cultivate students’ abilities of self-directed learning and cooperative learning.