Developed a framework for examining cognitive validity claims and used it to evaluate the validity of a "connected understanding" interpretation of three concept mapping techniques used by two teachers and six high school students. Results show that the three mapping techniques provide different pictures of student knowledge and suggest that…

Reports the results of a study that compared two concept-mapping techniques, one high-directed, "fill-in-the-map" and one low-directed, "construct-a-map-from-scratch". Examines whether: (1) skeleton map scores were sensitive to the sample; (2) the two types of skeleton maps were equivalent; and (3) the two mapping techniques provided similar…

A concept map is a graph in which the nodes represent concepts, the lines between the nodes represent relations, and the labels on the lines represent the nature of the relations. Concept maps have been used to assess students' knowledge structures, especially in science education. Two concept mapping techniques, constructing a map and filling in…

A concept-map assessment consists of a task that elicits structured knowledge, a response format, and a scoring system. Variation in tasks, response formats, and scoring systems produce different mapping techniques that may elicit different knowledge representations, posing construct-interpretations challenges. This study examined two mapping…

One potential approach to the authentic assessment of what students know and can do in science is concept mapping. A concept map is a graph consisting of nodes representing concepts and labeled lines denoting the relation between a pair of nodes (concepts). The external concept map constructed by the student is interpreted as representing…