Abstract
Concept maps have been shown to have a positive impact on the quality of student learning in a variety of disciplinary contexts and educational levels from primary school to university by helping students to connect ideas and develop a productive knowledge structure to support future learning. However, the evaluation of concept maps has always been a contentious issue. Some authors focus on the quantitative assessment of maps, while others prefer a more descriptive determination of map quality. To our knowledge, no previous consideration of concept maps has evaluated the different types of knowledge (e.g., procedural and conceptual) embedded within a concept map, or the ways in which they may interact. In this paper we consider maps using the lens provided by the Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) to analyze concept maps in terms of semantic gravity and semantic density. Weaving between these qualitatively, different knowledges are considered necessary to achieve professional knowledge or expert understanding. Exemplar maps are used as illustrations of the way in which students may navigate their learning towards expertise and how this is manifested in their concept maps. Implications for curriculum design and teaching evaluation are included.
Highlights
The primary focus of 21st century education is to support students to develop meaningful knowledge that can be applied to a range of evolving, real-world settings [1,2,3]
The test instrument consisted of four interdisciplinary everyday life related scenarios, where each focused on one science subject
Students were given 30 different types of concepts to map on the topic of ‘Milk—is it always healthy?’ Some of these concepts were representations of ‘everyday’ knowledge
Summary
The primary focus of 21st century education is to support students to develop meaningful knowledge that can be applied to a range of evolving, real-world settings [1,2,3]. The world with all its complexity—including a rapid growth of information and knowledge, along with increased pressures on the educational system—creates a challenge to help students to develop the skills to navigate these complexities. Rather than adopting a trial-and-error approach that is typical for a novice, we need experts that can use a principles-based approach to solve problems [7]. With this in mind, several researchers have demonstrated the benefits of concept mapping in teaching, learning and assessing scientific subjects
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