Quality of concept maps is affected by map building strategies

Abstract

Concept‐maps are widely used to assess students' conceptual understanding in different subject areas. Conventionally, it is mostly built maps which are assessed. In this study, we explore if “concept‐mapping” could be used as a case for constructive alignment of both the process and the outcome of learning. Specifically, we have studied how a simple measure of looking at the order in which concept map elements‐concepts (cards, C), links (arrows, A), and linking phrases (phrases, P)‐ are placed on the working space reveals information about the quality of the final generated map. We report findings from analysis of the concept‐mapping process in two separate groups of university students (N = 38 (18 + 20)) who were asked, individually, to build concept maps related to two separate concepts in biology and chemistry respectively. We found that, across both groups, students consistently followed the same order of element placement that they began with and found significant differences in the quality of eventual maps resulting from students' map building strategies. Our results suggest that the quality of students' concept maps depends considerably on the strategy used to build it, and point to the supplementary role that the physical working space of the concept‐mapping exercise offers to students' own working memory as a possible explanation for these quality differences.

Investigating Differences in Experts’ Chemistry Knowledge Structures and Comparing Them to Those of General Chemistry Students

“…Although concept maps have been utilized widely to assess students’ conceptual understanding in science education, the use of the Word Association Test results to create expert and undergraduate students’ structures with JPathfinder, R Programming, and Gephi can be considered innovative. It is believed that the instruments and approach taken in this study provide a more direct and objective method of producing knowledge structures by removing some of the shared challenges with concept maps , such as students’ resistance in revealing their true thinking and having trouble with the selection of links and concepts. Another advantage of the approach used in this study is being able to evaluate a large group of students’ or experts’ understanding of a set of topics at the same time; this is not possible with concept maps developed traditionally by individuals or small groups.…”

A importância da disciplina Educação em Saúde na Amazônia para docentes da área da saúde: Um relato de Experiência

“…O mapa conceitual permite aos alunos organizar seus pensamentos, entender os conceitos estudados e construir uma ferramenta visual que auxilia na retenção de conhecimento. O professor visualiza com maior clareza a forma pela qual o aluno organiza sua estrutura de conhecimento podendo regular uma aprendizagem mais eficiente, pois o professor tem condições de individualizar seus comentários acerca do entendimento conceitual dos seus alunos (Correia et al, 2016;Gouvêa, et al, 2016, Mukhopadhyay et al, 2019Srivastava, Srivastava & Chandrasekharan, 2021). Esses são fatores identificados e alcançados durante o módulo.…”

Evaluating the kit-build concept mapping process using sub-map scoring

“…The similar relationship of SMS and FMS towards post and delayed test score indicates that learner's process in KB concept mapping affects the understanding and memory retention as well as the learner's map quality. Furthermore, the result of correlation analysis between FMS and SMS confirmed that learner's process in concept map building has a relationship with map quality (Chiu & Lin, 2012;Srivastava et al, 2021). Based on these results, it is implied that a good process in KB concept mapping could lead to not only a better learning gain, but also a better understanding and memory retention of the learning subject, and better map quality.…”