Concept maps are diagrams that show students how content is structured. This article asserts that they can be effective teaching and learning tools. It presents one method of concept mapping and several ways it can be used in the classroom. (EV)

A number of case studies were examined to discover how introductory college biology instructors and their students use stories to make sense of biology concepts. Methods involved observing and transcribing stories told by four instructors over two semesters. Three instructors and 31 students were interviewed. Four story types were identified from…

In this inquiry, I examine the evidence of student learning in an elementary education language arts methods course. Students completed concepts maps that represented their understanding of effective writing instruction at the beginning end of the course. Eighty-one pairs of concepts maps were scored according to established methods. Students…

The skill set required of biomedical researchers continues to grow and evolve as biology matures as a natural science. Science necessitates creative yet critical thinking, persuasive communication skills, purposeful use of time, and adeptness at the laboratory bench. Teaching these skills can be effectively accomplished in an inquiry-based,…

This paper reports on the work of a six-month review project commissioned by the Higher Education Academy which aimed at mapping the research base around the student learning experience in higher education (HE). The project aimed to: (1) provide an overview of the ways in which the student learning experience in HE has been and is conceptualised;…

Writing is the ability to compose text effectively for different purposes and audiences. When many of us reflect on our own school experiences, we recall writing in English and history classes, but not in mathematics. Math classes previously relied on skill-building and conceptual understanding activities. Today, teachers are realizing that…

Blending narratives allows students to combine their personal experiences with specific social studies content to tell a story. Each story created and told by students is uniquely different. The primary purposes of blending narratives are to validate each student in the classroom and allow them to demonstrate knowledge of classroom content.…

Working under an activity theory framework, the present study was designed to determine how the activity settings, individual and contextual, contributed to the instructional practices and understandings of test-only beginning special education teachers. Specifically, the focus of this study was to examine how teachers with no formal teacher…

A key challenge of effective teaching is assessing and monitoring the extent to which students have assimilated the material they were taught. Concept mapping is a methodology designed to model what students have learned. In effect, it seeks to produce graphical representations (called concept maps) of the concepts that are important to a given…

This paper reports on a small-scale pilot study undertaken at a secondary school in England, exploring how children learn about and construct distant places. Using drawings, concept mapping and interviews, the research examines the process of learning about Brazil over a period of formal learning, and how teaching and resources influence…

Concept maps are an instructional strategy that promotes meaningful learning. This chapter examines the use of concept maps in online environments through discussion of CmapTools software. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

This paper uses case study methodology to investigate the subject conceptualisation of two geography teachers at a mixed-ability comprehensive school in the UK. The research used concept-mapping and semi-structured interviews to explore the teachers' understanding of their subjects, within the case study framework. Teachers were asked to describe…

Discusses the use of concept maps as an instructional strategy and the construction and scoring of concept maps. Lists Internet sites for information and tools on concept mapping. (JRH)

This study assessed the influence of using mind maps as a learning tool on eighth graders' science achievement, whether such influence was mediated by students' prior scholastic achievement, and the relationship between students' mind maps and their conceptual understandings. Sixty-two students enrolled in four intact sections of a grade 8 science…

An experiment explicitly introducing learning strategies to a large, first-year undergraduate cell biology course was undertaken to see whether awareness and use of strategies had a measurable impact on student performance. The construction of concept maps was selected as the strategy to be introduced because of an inherent coherence with a course…