Concept Mapping as a Mediator of Constructivist Learning

Author(s):  
Gregory MacKinnon

This chapter on electronic concept mapping introduces a specific example of a learning technology that has potential for serving and promoting an emerging set of identified literacies in today’s youth. The chapter begins with a discussion of the nature of the modern student and the literacies that are most likely to serve them well as they integrate into an increasingly technological information-based society. A discussion of the historical development of the concept map and its defining characteristics will follow. The range of applications of concept maps in K-12 classrooms will then be discussed with additional comments regarding teacher development both in preservice and inservice settings. The chapter will close with a discussion of the particular literacies served by electronic concept mapping.

Author(s):  
Michael Tang ◽  
Janelle M. Johnson

The chapter begins with the origins of concept maps as a tool to promote constructivist learning, an educational philosophy and practice, and is followed by a concept map taxonomy. A definition of concept maps is provided and the main differences between Mind Maps©, Thinking Maps®, and Concept Maps are discussed with Thinking Maps classified as a type of concept map that is separate and different from both other maps. The chapter then offers a second definition of the term “concept maps,” with a detailed discussion of Thinking Maps resulting in a new taxonomy of knowledge or concept maps. The authors then investigate integrating concept maps with cognitive styles theory to determine if concept mapping might have a neuro-psychological basis and if mapping theory can be related to different academic fields and professions. The chapter concludes that the use of concept mapping can promote more holistic and effective teaching, learning, and practice in STEM education.


Author(s):  
Chien-Wen Chuang ◽  
Gwo-Jen Hwang ◽  
Wen-Jen Tsai

Concept maps are well recognized as being an effective tool for helping students organize and construct their knowledge. However, previous studies have also indicated the difficulty encountered by young students in concept mapping. Therefore, how to provide an efficient strategy for enhancing students' learning achievement using concept mapping is worth studying. The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of the peer tutoring-based concept mapping approach on students' learning performance. A 5-week experiment was conducted in an elementary school social studies course in southern Taiwan. The participants were two classes of fifth graders. One class was the experimental group consisting of 33 students provided with a computerized concept map learning model based on peer tutoring, whereas the other class was the control group consisting of 32 students learning with a conventional computerized concept mapping approach. It was found that the learning achievements and the concept map scores of the students who learned with the peer-tutoring strategy were significantly higher than those students who learned with the conventional computerized concept mapping approach. Meanwhile, the result also indicated that the innovative approach is significantly helpful for improving the students' learning attitudes and technology acceptance levels.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 10506-10506
Author(s):  
Sam Brondfield ◽  
Allen Seol ◽  
Katherine Hyland ◽  
Arianne Teherani ◽  
Gerald Hsu

10506 Background: Proliferating knowledge domains have prompted medical schools to reconsider how best to facilitate multidisciplinary learning. Concept maps promote knowledge retention and integration; however, the feasibility and utility of integrating concept maps into a medical student oncology curriculum as a learning and assessment tool have not previously been described. Methods: In 2015-2016, all 152 second-year University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) medical students in a hematology/oncology course produced a concept map about a single cancer type over four weeks. Two of three graders independently scored each map using a standard rubric. We used linear regression to calculate the Pearson correlation coefficient between graders and between concept map scores and preclinical examination scores, USMLE Step 1 scores, and clerkship grades. We sent course evaluations to 50 randomly selected students (as is typical in the UCSF curriculum) and performed an inductive content analysis of open-ended comments about concept mapping. Results: We graded all 152 concept maps. Inter-rater reliability was excellent ( r = 0.95 or greater between the graders). Concept map scores did not correlate with preclinical or clinical performance. 43 of 50 students (86%) rated the helpfulness of concept mapping on a 5-point agreement scale (1=strongly disagree; 5=strongly agree). The median rating was 3, and the mean (SD) rating was 2.81 (1.44). 22 of 50 (44%) students submitted comments about concept mapping. Some (9 of 22) found concept mapping useful, expressing themes such as “learning the material better” and delving into the “details.” Others (7 of 22) did not, expressing themes such as preferring “other study methods” and feeling that concept mapping was “busy work” or “stressful.” Conclusions: Integrating concept maps into a medical student oncology curriculum was feasible, and we demonstrated reliability evidence as an assessment tool. Future studies should explore whether integrating concept maps earlier in medical school, producing multiple concept maps over time with training and feedback, or developing concept maps collaboratively may increase utility as a learning and assessment tool.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Arruarte ◽  
Iñaki Calvo ◽  
Jon A. Elorriaga ◽  
Mikel Larrañaga ◽  
Angel Conde

Authors report on a study using the concept mapping technique in computer engineering education for learning theoretical introductory database topics. In addition, the learning of multilingual technical terminology by means of the collaborative drawing of a concept map is also pursued in this experiment. The main characteristics of a study carried out in the database subject at the University of the Basque Country during the 2011/2012 course are described. This study contributes to the field of concept mapping as these kinds of cognitive tools have proved to be valid to support learning in computer engineering education. It contributes to the field of computer engineering education, providing a technique that can be incorporated with several educational purposes within the discipline. Results reveal the potential that a collaborative concept map editor offers to fulfil the above mentioned objectives.


Concept maps have been proposed as a tool that can help develop and exercise higher-order thinking skills, including critical thinking, reflective thinking, synthesis, analysis, among others. In this paper, we review how the different aspects of constructing a concept map can help develop and exercise these skills, and discuss why most students never reach the level of concept mapping skills required to exercises their higher-order thinking skills, in what we propose is a case of pedagogic frailty involving the ‘Pedagogy and Discipline’ and ‘Locus of Control’ dimensions.


2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Ramyasmruthi S Talanki

Concept mapping is a tool used for representing knowledge in an organized format. It consists of concepts that are encircled and a connecting line with linking words or phrases represents the relationships between the different sub-concepts. Joseph D. Novak developed the concept maps in the 1970s. Mendia et al., 2008 have used this tool that promotes meaningful learning in math with secondary school students. Sharma, 2014 has used this tool for student’s achievement and concept retention for higher secondary student. This paper is regarding effectiveness of concept maps in concept retention among secondary school students. It is an action research conducted with ten students. The concept map was prepared using software called as Cmap. The institute that has developed this software is Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. The concept of structure of DNA was taken to teach the students using concept map. A pretest, posttest, and delayed test were conducted to observe the students understanding and retention of the concept. The results were analyzed using SPSS software. It was observed that the understanding and retention of the concept among the students was visible after using the concept mapping strategy


Author(s):  
Aryo Pinandito ◽  
Didik D. Prasetya ◽  
Yusuke Hayashi ◽  
Tsukasa Hirashima

AbstractThis research, to design and develop a concept map authoring support tool, adopts a semi-automatic concept mapping approach to help teachers create concept maps from English readings. A concept map is widely regarded as a useful teaching and learning tool. It offers many potential advantages apart from representing the students’ knowledge and understanding during learning. Students’ engagement in using and creating concept maps with a computer-enabled concept mapping tool raises concept maps’ potential benefits. It contributes to the learning process and improves the students’ meaningful learning. The Kit-Build concept map framework, which incorporates a technology-enabled concept mapping tool, uses concept map recomposition as its essential learning activity. In learning with Kit-Build, teachers compose concept maps that they want the students to achieve. The teachers’ maps are then decomposed into components from which the students recompose and reflect deeply on their understanding. The difference between teacher’s and students’ concept maps depicts the gap between teachers’ expected understanding and students’ actual understanding. Hence, the teachers’ concept map becomes an essential part of learning with Kit-Build. For some teachers, creating a good concept map for learning is difficult and time-consuming. Hence, support to improve teachers’ productivity in creating concept maps is essential. The findings suggest that the support tool yields better concept mapping efficiency while maintaining concept maps of similar quality. Teachers also found that the support tool was useful. Therefore, semi-automatic concept mapping with the supported Kit-Build concept map authoring tool has been shown to be a better approach.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 30-48
Author(s):  
Aliyah Dosani ◽  
Candace Lind ◽  
Sylvia Loewen

Introduction: Concept mapping is a tool that is used to visualize complex factors and the links between them. While concept mapping is represented in community health practice and research literature, we found little information about using concept mapping in community health nursing education. Background: We developed an innovative concept map assignment to assist students to visualize complex inter-related factors and begin thinking about appropriate and relevant nursing interventions, using the Population Health Promotion Model (PHPM). Discussion: Concept maps enhanced the quality of meaningful teaching and learning at the university level, acting as both a learning and assessment strategy. Students exhibited critical thinking and drew conclusions that involved larger systemic issues such as social justice and health equity. Conclusion: Concept mapping is a powerful tool that facilitates and assesses authentic student learning. The concept map assignment was also an effective tool to help students grasp and apply the PHPM.


There have been many efforts reported in the literature to score or rate the quality of concept maps. In many cases the objective was to standardize procedures for grading student concept maps, but other efforts have served a variety of purposes, including guiding workshop participants to construct better concept maps or monitoring the advances in concept mapping techniques on a large population of users. We examine some of the criteria used by others for rating or scoring concept maps as “good” and propose a scheme that takes into account both graphical structure criteria and semantic or subject matter accuracy that we propose can lead to better, “excellent” concept maps. It has been said that presentations that are concise but capture the complexity of the content involved are elegant—and producing these kinds of concept maps should be our goal.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-75
Author(s):  
Roshan Lamichhane ◽  
Amber Simpson

The intersection of dialogue and concept map use is explored through this qualitative study. An introductory chemistry classroom for middle or high school students explores the combined effect of these two evidence-based teaching strategies. Following the lesson, students participated in a focus group to provide feedback on the lesson's use of discussing their concept maps. The results of that feedback and ideas for improvement and how to utilize this strategy in your own classroom is presented. Although this method may pose it's own unique set of challenges in the classroom, student understanding of basic foundational chemistry concepts was advanced.


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