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

Abstract

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.