The Use of Concept Maps to Assess Preservice Teacher Understanding: A Formative Approach in Mathematics Education

Abstract

This paper explores whether and how concept maps can capture changes in the ways that preservice mathematics teachers' represent their understanding of algebra when taking a course on high school algebra. The preservice teachers in this study created concept maps representing their understanding of high school algebra on the first and last day of the course. We describe the initial results of an analysis of these concept maps which showed that concept maps created at the end of the course were larger and more complex, on average, including more nodes and links compared to the concepts maps created at the beginning of the course. Additionally, we describe how these analyses can be used by instructors to make formative decisions in their own courses.

Por Que Definir a Pergunta Focal Dos Mapas Conceituais É Importante? A Identificação De Mapas Superficiais Sem Erros Conceituais

“…Os mapas conceituais (MCs) são frequentemente usados como ferramentas de avaliação (Bauman, 2018;Romero, 2017;Brakoniecki, 2017;McClure, Sonak, & Suen, 1999;Ruiz-Primo & Shavelson, 1996;Toigo & Moreira, 2012). A necessidade de usar proposições (conceito inicial − termo de ligação → conceito final) para expressar claramente a relação entre os conceitos torna os MCs uma opção interessante para revelar a estrutura do conhecimento conceitual presente nos modelos mentais idiossincráticos dos alunos (Davies, 2011;Moreira, Greca, & Palmeiro 2002;Novak, 2010).…”

Concept mapping to measure Mathematical experts’ number sense

“…Consequently, concept maps are suggested as a tool to measure knowledge of students across ages and levels of competencies (Mintzes, Wandersee& Novak 2001) with many researchers highlighting their efficiency on providing a visual representation of students' knowledge (Conradty& Bogner, 2012). Concept maps have also been used as a means of documenting change in knowledge as a result of instruction (Hough et al, 2007;Williams 1998;Brakoniecki& Shah, 2017) and they are recommended as a means of assessing change. In this line, Williams (1998) explored the use of concept maps as a research tool in mathematics, particularly as the maps reflect conceptual understanding.…”