The aim of this research is to determine what differences may exist in students' structural knowledge while using a variety of concept mapping assessments. A concept map can be used as an assessment which connects concepts in a knowledge domain. A single assessment may not be powerful enough to establish how students' new knowledge relates to…

This comparative pre-test/post-test quantitative study investigated the effect of an instructional strategy using concept mapping as a graphic organizer on the quality of persuasive writing compositions produced by fourth grade elementary school students. Six fourth grade classes were assigned as intact groups to three conditions: concept mapping…

Nursing programs have embraced distance learning in their curricula, but discussion is ongoing about course assignments and grading criteria to increase examination scores in nursing distance learning courses. Because course examinations are a predictor of success on the postgraduate licensing examination (NCLEX-RN), the purpose of this study was…

Domain adaptation of natural language processing systems is challenging because it requires human expertise. While manual effort is effective in creating a high quality knowledge base, it is expensive and time consuming. Clinical text adds another layer of complexity to the task due to privacy and confidentiality restrictions that hinder the…

This study investigated the disciplinary knowledge and nature of expertise among political science experts studying American political science. A comparison group of students who had completed an introductory undergraduate course in American political science also participated in the study. Numerous research studies have found that civics and…

Analogies are ubiquitous during instruction in science classrooms, yet research about the effectiveness of using analogies has produced mixed results. An aspect seldom studied is a model of instruction when using analogies. The few existing models for instruction with analogies have not often been examined quantitatively. The Teaching With…

The role of Israel in the identity of North American Jews is of concern and interest to community leaders, philosophers of Jewish education, and most important, practitioners in the field. Although there is an awareness of the need to help emerging Jewish educators grapple with the complex questions surrounding Israel engagement, little research…

In this study, I investigated the effectiveness of the knowledge map (k-map) instructional strategy compared to a text-based presentation in an online environment. K-maps consist of node-link representations of concepts that together form the content of a topic or domain. The benefits of using k-maps are that concepts and ideas are represented as…

The purpose of this study was to explore the use of concept map assessments in freshman level general chemistry courses. Two strategies were employed in this study. The first strategy involved the creation of a web based concept mapping program capable of scoring concept maps drawn by students. The second strategy involved comparing different…