Concept maps for learning evaluation: making students' conceptual relationships about climate change visible

• Grant number: 14/03367-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: June 01, 2014
• End date: March 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Education - Educational Teaching and Learning
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Rogerio Miranda Correia
• Grantee: Anderson Dias Viana
• Host Institution: Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades (EACH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The evaluation of conceptual learning can be done using an external representation of the mental models that students have about the topic under study. Concept maps are graphic organizers that support the explicit description of conceptual relationships due to the need of using propositions containing linking phrases. This feature explains why learning evaluation is an area of great interest among researchers involved with concept mapping and science education. The challenge of obtaining concept maps made by students that can be correlated with part of their mental models is an obstacle that deserves further investigation. Two main aspects are usually neglected by teachers using concept maps in classrooms: i) the need to train students in the concept mapping technique, and ii) the importance of defining how the concept maps will be asked to students. The neglect of these factors result in superficial concept maps with low semantic clarity that does not reflect the conceptual organization contained in the students' cognitive structure. The aim of this project is to evaluate the use of concept maps during an exam of the ACH 0131 Natural Sciences: Science, Culture and Society course in order to verify the conceptual knowledge of students about climate change. Three sequential and complementary studies are proposed to organize data collection and analysis: the comparison of structural (form) and semantic (content) features of concept maps obtained under different instructional demands (study I); the effect of making a preparatory concept map prior the exam on the structural and semantic features of the concept map prepared during the exam (study II), and the relationship between structural and semantic features of the concept map prepared during the exam and the students' conceptual knowledge about climate change (study III). (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

VIANA, Anderson Dias. Comparative studies on concept maps elaboration for assessment of learning: identifying the importance of demands and the preparation effect. 2016. Master's Dissertation - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Física (IF/SBI) São Paulo.