Using Students-Generated Concept Maps to Assess Students’ Conceptual Understanding in a Foundational Engineering Course

Fang, Ning

doi:10.18260/p.25020

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Past studies have used concept mapping both as a tool to assess student learning and as a tool to improve student comprehension and retention of course content. While results from numerous studies have demonstrated gains in student comprehension and retention of course material, some disagreement surrounds the use of concept mapping as an assessment tool [8][9][10][11]. Johnstone and Otis suggest that concept maps should be treated as "very personal learning tools" due to the many necessary inferences that must be made in understanding a map and the corresponding opportunities for mistakes [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Descriptions of pedagogical approaches incorporating concept mapping are more readily available in the literature for mechanics courses in the mechanical engineering curriculum than thermal science courses [11,[13][14][15]. There are a few studies related to thermodynamics within a chemistry curriculum [6,16], but publications are scant regarding the adoption of concept mapping as a pedagogical approach in thermodynamics courses within a mechanical engineering program.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Introducing Concept Maps in Undergraduate Thermodynamics

Lofton¹

2019

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Concept maps, also called mind maps, are a widely utilized educational tool. While numerous studies cite the benefits of concept mapping as a tool for student learning, the use of concept maps is more common in non-engineering disciplines. This study examines student perceptions and academic performance in an undergraduate, introductory Thermodynamics course for students majoring in Mechanical Engineering. The pedagogical approach includes incorporating student-developed concept maps, as well as an interactive study tool for First Law analysis that was derived from an instructor-developed concept map. Qualitative and quantitative results are presented. Results are limited to a single institution and a small sample size of students. Future work will expand the data set and include multiple institutions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introducing Concept Maps in Undergraduate Thermodynamics

Lofton¹

2019

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“…If the concept maps are to be used to assess or evaluate student learning, the instructor must decide not only how to construct the assignment prompt but also how to evaluate the map. Per [1], in engineering education, concept maps have been used to assess knowledge integration across an engineering program [3], conceptual understanding in a engineering dynamics course [4], and student preconceptions in an introductory transportation engineering course [5], among other applications.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Concept Maps to Assess Student Learning in a Multi-Section Introduction to Engineering Course

Bernhardt¹,

Roth²

2018 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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is chair of the Engineering Studies program and associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Lafayette College. Her expertise is in sustainable civil infrastructure management and transportation systems. She teaches a variety of courses including sustainability of built systems, transportation systems, transportation planning, civil infrastructure management, engineering economics, and Lafayette's introductory first year engineering course. Dr. Sanford Bernhardt serves on the American Society of Civil Engineers' Task Committee on the 3rd Edition of the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge and the Transportation Research Board Committee on Education and Training. She previously has served as vice-chair of the ASCE Infrastructure Systems Committee, chair of the ASEE's Civil Engineering Division, and a member of the Transportation Research Board committees on Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Computing, Asset Management, and Emerging Technology for Design and Construction. She received her Ph.D. and M.

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“…Concept mapping has been used as an educational tool for more than thirty years, but has recently gained attention in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines [6]- [8]. Within the mechanical engineering curriculum, examples of incorporating concept maps are more widespread for mechanics courses than thermal science courses [9]- [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have reported the use of concept mapping as a technique to improve student understanding of course content as well as the use of concept maps to assess student learning. Several students have shown concept mapping to improve comprehension and retention of course material, but there is disagreement about the use of concept mapping as an assessment tool [9], [15]- [17]. Johnstone and Otis suggest that concept maps are personal tools to aid in a student's memory but may be misinterpreted by an outside reader [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two Approaches to Concept Maps in Undergraduate Fluid Mechanics

Mendez¹,

Lofton²

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access Proceedings

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In constructivist pedagogy, students create their own meaning of the course material. One way for students to represent connections between ideas is by creating a concept map. This paper describes different approaches to using concept maps as a study tool in undergraduate fluid mechanics courses at two different institutions. The two instructors worked together to create a concept map of the topics covered in the courses, which had similar learning outcomes and covered most of the same topics. The goal of creating this concept map was to provide the students with a visual representation of how the different topics were related. At the first institution, the instructor-created concept map was used primarily as a visual aid ("passive approach"). The instructor showed the map at regular intervals in class, where the map grew as students learned new material. At the second institution during the following semester, students were encouraged to create individual maps, which could be used as an aid during assessments ("active approach"). The instructor-created map was presented in class after allowing the students to develop their own maps. No significant differences in course performance were found compared with courses taught by the same instructors when concept maps were not used. Concept maps were found to be a useful tool for connecting and organizing course topics for both students and instructors.

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Using Students-Generated Concept Maps to Assess Students’ Conceptual Understanding in a Foundational Engineering Course

Cited by 4 publications

References 7 publications

Introducing Concept Maps in Undergraduate Thermodynamics

Introducing Concept Maps in Undergraduate Thermodynamics

Using Concept Maps to Assess Student Learning in a Multi-Section Introduction to Engineering Course

Two Approaches to Concept Maps in Undergraduate Fluid Mechanics

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