Explores the use of student-constructed concept maps in conjunction with written interpretive essays as an additional method of assessment in three undergraduate mathematics courses. Evaluates the benefits of using concept maps and written essays to assess the "connectedness" of students' knowledge. (Author/CCM)

Argues that food webs are an efficient method through which to communicate the core idea of ecology--that all living things are interconnected. Assesses the challenges and solutions to using illustrated food webs. (Author/CCM)

Presents empirical evidence for imitative problem solving and the interpretation theory, based on a study of Scottish secondary school students. Discusses analogical problem solving; the interpretation theory notation; and predicted sources of difficulty in mapping and adapting the practice problem to solve a variant. (Contains 42 references.)…

A National Council for Agricultural Education project addressing change in preservice teacher education used a web-based statistical program to organize stakeholder input into a concept map. Results of a cluster analysis of the concepts will be used to develop national standards for agricultural teacher education. (SK)

Studies knowledge of young children's partitioning strategies by setting out not only to identify new partitioning strategies, but also to develop taxonomy for classifying young children's partitioning strategies in terms of their abilities. Provides taxonomy utilizing children's informal partitioning strategies as the foundation upon which to…

Investigates the contribution of conceptual change texts accompanied by concept mapping instruction to 10th-grade students' understanding of the human circulatory system. Indicates that the conceptual change texts accompanied by concept mapping instruction produced a positive effect on students' understanding of concepts. Concludes that students…

Analyses the relationships between concepts describing the composition of matter that were proposed by a sample of prospective primary education teachers on a conceptual map. Content analysis shows that there are four equally representative categories. Describes the activities that were used with the prospective teachers concerning the…

Examined the effects of concept maps on the task-related variance components of Political Science performance assessments for 187 college students. Task variance components were unchanged across groups using or not using concept maps. But the person main effect components increased and the task-by-person interaction components decreased for those…

Describes a study in which concept maps drawn by high school students (n=12) were evaluated using quantitative measures. Results indicate that the concept maps are useful in assessing the understanding of relationships between the concepts required for multiple step problem solving in physics. Contains 12 references. (DDR)

Examines the value of concept maps as instruments for assessment of conceptual understanding, using the maps to compare the knowledge of function that experts and two groups of students (N=28)--traditional and nontraditional--enrolled in university calculus classes hold. Discusses the differences between the student and expert groups as well as…

Discussion of information handling tools focuses on natural language processing and linguistically-based techniques that help improve retrieval performance. Topics include difficulties in information retrieval, including poor questions and ambiguous words; phrase detection; disambiguation; automatic categorization; entity extraction; concept…

Students in a master's level course on adult guidance participated in mapping, locating, and translating guidance and counseling concepts in learning settings. The different maps that emerged suggest that the impact of professional development may be diffuse and indirect. (SK)

Investigates the changes in students' understanding of chemistry concepts when concept mapping is used as an instructional method and assessment technique. (Contains 24 references.) (YDS)

Concept maps created by 21 adult students at 3 points were scored and students were interviewed. Maps developed thinking skills and fostered understanding of knowledge construction. Most continued to use maps after 1 year. Even those who did not continue to use them reported changes in their thinking. (Contains 15 references.) (SK)

Classification of concept maps made in British science classes resulted in three patterns that indicate students' progressive levels of understanding. The classification method analyzes hierarchy, processes, complexity, conceptual development, and representation. It suggests teaching approaches based on students' existing concept structures. (SK)