Abstract
This study examined the use of knowledge maps as a tool for teacher education students to increase knowledge acquisition and retention of concepts related to the visual arts design elements: line, color, and shape. Participants were randomly assigned to either the no map or knowledge map group. Three instruments—Student Autobiography, Elements of Design Tests (EDT), and Knowledge Map Questionnaire—were used to collect data. Results revealed significantly higher means on the immediately administered posttest for the elements line and color and the delayed posttest for line map group. Questionnaire responses indicated positive attitudes toward knowledge map use as a study strategy. Specifically, endorsement was reported toward maps’ clarity, effectiveness for learning concepts, and enjoyment of use.
Highlights
Recent years have seen the adoption of a standards-based approach to education within the United States [1, 2] and abroad [3]
The element of color, for which the knowledge map included the greatest number of nodes and propositions, had the greatest mean difference scores, indicating that the number of concepts might have been a variable related to the usefulness of the knowledge map for knowledge acquisition
In this study, which explored results of the cognitive processing of the participants as they interacted with text and knowledge maps, there was not a condition where viewing knowledge maps produced significant negative effects and the attitudes toward the strategy were generally positive, indicating that teachers should consider knowledge maps as a viable learning strategy to facilitate the acquisition of concepts
Summary
Recent years have seen the adoption of a standards-based approach to education within the United States [1, 2] and abroad [3]. Within the current sociopolitical climate of standards-based education reform, the escalating emphasis for learning outcomes and meeting standards in an increasingly information overloaded context is not likely to diminish. As educators and students strive to facilitate and utilize efficient and effective teaching and learning strategies in an increasingly outcomesaccountable environment, they are discovering that, in the realm of overwhelming information access, the current methods used to create meaning may need to be reexamined. The variety and fluidity of contexts in which teachers and learners operate necessitate solid subject matter knowledge as well as vast pedagogical knowledge; educators, like learners, must make connections between ideas and integrate their knowledge in order to achieve meaningful learning [5]. Bransford et al [6] asserted that “there is no universal best teaching practice,” (page 22) since teaching strategies are mediated by numerous variables including the learner, course, subject matter, and desired outcome. Concept mapping [8, 9] is a knowledge representation technique commonly used by teachers and students at all levels that holds vast potential in regard to its effectiveness as a teaching and learning strategy
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