Concept Mapping with a Cooperative Learning Flavor

Abstract

SINCE Joe Novak and his associates at Cornell University developed and introduced the concept mapping strategy in 1972, biology teachers, educators and science education researchers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Israel and Nigeria have tried using concept maps. Schmid and Telaro (1990) report that biology students in Canada enjoyed lessons in which concept maps were used. Wallace and Mintzes (1990) and Lehman, Carter and Kahle (1985) reported similar experiences in the U.S. Concept mapping requires learners to plot concepts and their interrelations in a meaningful organization network. It has been shown to improve problem solving skills in biology (Okebukola 1991), reduce anxiety level in biology classrooms (Alaiyemola, Jegede & Okebukola 1990; Jegede, Alaiyemola & Okebukola 1990; Okebukola & Jegede 1989a, 1989b) and promote meaningful learning of science concepts (Novak 1990a, 1990b; Okebukola 1990; Okebukola & Jegede 1989a; Wandersee 1990). When concepts are mapped, they help to change experience from terra incognita (a region of the unknown) to terra cognita (a region of the known) (Wandersee 1990).