Collaborative Learning by Developing (LbD) Using Concept Maps and Vee Diagrams

Collaborative Learning by Developing (LbD) was researched in a University course. The focus was reflective metacognitive competence development (Appendix 1.) of Physiotherapy students. The authors used both individual and collaborative concept mapping and improved Vee heuristics in learning process evaluation. The content of the design experiment was ‘Coping at Home’. As educational research it was a design experiment, a multi-case, multi-method study. The core concept of the study unit and development project was ‘successful aging’. Both Cmap Recorder and videotaping of discussions during group concept mapping were used. The main result was that plenty of face-to-face dialogue was needed before the shared understanding and group concept maps were created. First the main concepts were fixed and then other concepts and their relationships were elaborated. Differences between individuals and two groups are analysed. In the collaborative learning process, the feeling in both groups was as if they had a unified and shared thinking process. Students continued each others talking and thinking very fluently like they had had “common brains”.

Concept Maps as a Tool for Promoting Online Collaborative Learning in Virtual Teams with Pre-Service Teachers

The chapter provides an overview of concept mapping and a description of a theoretical framework that adopts concept maps as a tool to enhance collaborative learning in virtual teams in an online learning environment. It was developed by drawing on the relevant literature and on research in online collaborative learning in the pre-service teacher education programs at an Australian university. The framework is underpinned by socio-constructivist learning theories for collaborative learning with online technologies. The use of a concept map to illustrate the framework is presented and the pedagogical benefits are highlighted. The framework is applicable to all higher education courses in promoting collaborative virtual team learning.

The Assessment of Interactive Learning

This chapter proposes the use of a communicational approach to rethink conceptual and methodological aspects of learning assessment in the context of interactive online information and communication technologies. The approach makes use of the digital online portfolio interface together with cognitive mapping techniques (mind maps and concept maps) as devices for assessing learning in online education. The examples described in the text are the result of pedagogical practice and research undertaken by the authors.

Enhancing Autonomy, Active Inquiry and Meaning Negotiation in Preschool Concept Mapping

This chapter reports on a case study where a teacher, unfamiliar with Novak’s concept mapping method, employed a personally custom designed Authoring Concept Mapping Kit for evaluating preschoolers’ knowledge on big cats. The Kit provides drawing and voice-recording features which were designed under constructivist learning and user-centered design principles. In a single session these features enabled eleven five-year-olds to build a map with verbally-labeled symbols because they made their conceptual and propositional meanings explicit. With teacher guidance and despite the absence of arrows, mapping was possible: meanings were categorized, edited, revisited, retained, shared, and preserved. Such activities promoted active participation, knowledge organization and manipulation, and facilitated teacher instruction in a way that has seldom been reported for any approach currently employed in preschool concept mapping. Together these and other results from related studies showing use of arrows and hierarchy, support the assertion that with a tool of this type, preschoolers can use concept-mapping-related skills to structure knowledge individually and collaboratively.

Using Concept Maps to Assess Individuals and Teams in Collaborative Learning Environments

The main focus of this chapter is the use of concept mapping, broadly defined to include both graphical and textual representations, for assessment in collaborative learning contexts. Several tools developed by the authors integrate concept mapping as the primary means of assessing progress of learning in complex and problem-solving domains. This chapter presents an overview of the theoretical and empirical foundation for these assessment tools, and discusses their applicability to collaborative learning environments (CLE).

Consensual Concept Maps in Early Childhood Education

The study described here was designed to demonstrate the sociocognitive benefits experienced by preschool children, specifically 5 year-olds, when they participated in a collaborative activity whose central task was the production of consensual preconcept maps. This task required oral interaction throughout the process of meaning negotiation and the selection of the preconcepts required by such a task. Therefore, the objective of the author’s research was twofold: (1) on one hand, to investigate the educational relevance of collaborative work to an early childhood classroom (with 5 year-old pupils), and (2) to explore the possibility of using consensual preconcept maps at this level, analysing the implications for the development of children’s competence.

Concept Mapping and Formative Assessment

From the authors observations and those of Kinchin (2001) teachers may know about concept mapping but they do not seem to use it as a consistent, effective strategy. The authors argue that the concept mapping may be better understood by using an expanded definition of traditional literacy, listening, speaking, reading and writing; to include visualizing, visual representation, and technological literacy Sinatra (1986). This ethnographic case study examines the use of concept mapping and collaborative learning strategies in the content area of marine ecology in high school science classrooms. To support students’ understanding of science concept and the improvement of writing students began with a field trip to study inter-coastal zones and follow-up laboratory activities, use of digital image analysis, and collaborative group work. Key vocabulary were identified to begin concept maps, and more vocabulary was added to support multiple revisions of concept maps with concept map software, and culminated with students’ writing. Concept mapping integrated with collaborative learning was used to engage students to construct and re-construct their understanding of a complex scientific concept, the energy cycle. The results showed that students benefited from the combination of collaborative learning and concept maps to focus their writing on key ideas, to organize their ideas, and include specific details. However, the interpretation and integration of quantitative data and laboratory results was not as consistent. Most importantly, initial concept maps and revisions provided the teacher with evidence of student learning in the form of formative assessment products, to guide teachers’ focused feedback and clarify specific ideas for re-teaching, as well as students’ self-assessment. The authors provide examples of concept maps and graphic organizers as formative assessment of students’ knowledge, what Novak (1998) calls heuristic or “facilitative tools,” and as visual representations and structures to provide flexible ways supporting learners’ meaningful learning through speaking, writing and in visual forms (Sinatra, 2000; Mintzes, Wandersee, and Novak, 2004).

Concept Maps and Conceptual Change in Physics

The authors describe and discuss some recent applications of concept maps to physics teaching. They begin by reviewing the literature on applications of concept maps to science teaching, and argue for the usefulness of this resource in facilitating processes of conceptual change. They then describe two experiments on the collaborative use of concept maps to this end. The first was a study of how a team of teachers designed learning sequences using three-dimensional maps. In the second, concept maps were constructed and then collaboratively re-constructed by various groups of students. Finally, they discuss the preliminary results of these experiments on the processes of conceptual change, and suggest lines for further research.

Exploring Semiotic Approaches to Analysing Multidimensional Concept Maps Using Methods that Value Collaboration

This chapter focuses on teachers’ multidimensional concept mapping data collected at the beginning and end of a one-year Masters level course about e-learning. A multidimensional concept map (MDCM) defines any concept map that is multimodal, multimedia, multilayered and/or multi-authored. The teachers’ personal and professional learning priorities are analysed using two semiotic methods: the first is a traditional analysis of the words used to label the nodes; the second is an innovative analysis method that treats the whole map as a semiotic artefact, in which all the elements, including the words, have equal importance. The findings suggest that these tools offer deep insights into the learning priorities of individuals and groups, especially the affective and motivational factors. The teachers, as co-researchers, also adopted MDCM to underpin collaborative thinking. These research tools can be used in the assessment process to value multimodal literacy and collaborative engagement in new knowledge construction.

Mapping Concepts with Fisherfolk

This chapter aims to show how concept mapping is a technique which is capable of representing complex systems in an accessible format and offers excellent opportunities for collaboration and meaningful learning. Effective communication is at the foundation of collaborative learning and concept mapping is expressly used in this research to facilitate the dialogue between participants and researcher. The chapter starts out by situating the reader by way of a conceptual background about complex systems, followed by the basis for the application of concept mapping in this project and the specific research context - a case study of small-scale fisheries in southern Brazil. Then, an account of the use of concept mapping during the fieldwork is given, with an assessment of the technique. The chapter ends with a reflection on the experience gained so far and comments on the application of collaborative learning in similar research projects.