A value-centered approach to science, technology and society (STS) education illuminates the need of reflexive and relational learning through communication and public engagement. Visualization is a key to represent and compare mental models such as assumptions, background theories and value systems that tacitly shape our own understanding,…

To determine the content of integrated curricula, clinical concepts and the underlying basic science concepts need to be made explicit. Preconstructed concept maps are recommended for this purpose. They are mainly constructed by experts. However, concept maps constructed by residents are hypothesized to be less complex, to reveal more tacit basic…

This study aims to identify an adequate approach for revealing conceptual understanding in higher professional education. Revealing students' conceptual understanding is an important step towards developing effective curricula, assessment and aligned teaching strategies to enhance conceptual understanding in higher education. Essays and concept…

This study examined how one academic framed the enablements and constraints to her project of being and becoming an academic. Complexity facilitated reflection in that it provided a visual representation of data, which was used to generate a concept map, which represented as equal all the component parts of her landscape. Five spaces with…

Group discussions are critical for students constructing new understanding and knowledge in both classroom and distance education. Tagclouds can provide an intuitive overview about the group's collective knowledge and could potentially be used as an anchor for group discussions. The effect of using tagclouds as anchors for group discussions was…

Purpose of Study: The aim of this study is to investigate the nature of pre-service biology teachers' metaconceptual processes that were active as they participated in metaconceptual teaching activities. Methods: Several instructional activities, including poster drawing, concept mapping, group and class discussions, and journal writing, were…

Pedagogic frailty has been proposed as a unifying concept that may help to integrate institutional efforts to enhance teaching within universities by helping to maintain a simultaneous focus on key areas that are thought to impede the development of pedagogy. These areas and the links that have been proposed to connect them are interrogated here…

In order to use concept maps in physics classes effectively, teachers' knowledge and ideas about concept mapping are as important as the physics knowledge used in mapping. For this reason, we aimed to examine pre-service physics teachers' knowledge on concept mapping, their ideas about the implementation of concept mapping in physics…

This article considers what might be taught to meet a widely held curriculum aim of students being able to understand research in a discipline. Expertise, which may appear as a "chain of practice," is widely held to be underpinned by networks of understanding. Scientific research expertise is considered from this perspective. Within…

The aim of this study was to explore the different ways in which a number of Chilean stakeholders conceptualise the "good early childhood educator" in Chile. In a context where new foreign narratives are increasingly dominating the field and the recent standardisation of the educators' professional role is being implemented, this…

This paper reports a study, which investigated whether different instructional strategies might interact with individual's cognitive style in learning. A web-based learning package was designed employing three strategies, Interactive Concept Maps, Illustration with Embedded Text and Text-Only. Group Embedded Figure Test was administered to 178…

Research on mechanistic thinking in organic chemistry has shown that students attribute little meaning to the electron-pushing (i.e., curved arrow) formalism. At the University of Ottawa, a new curriculum has been developed in which students are taught the electron-pushing formalism prior to instruction on specific reactions--this formalism is…

This book provides an archival forum for researchers, academics, practitioners, and industry professionals interested and/or engaged in the reform of the ways of teaching and learning through advancing current learning environments towards smart learning environments. It facilitates opportunities for discussions and constructive dialogue among…

The Mapmark standard setting method was adapted to a higher education setting in which faculty leaders were highly involved. Eighteen university faculty members participated in a day-long standard setting for a general education communications test. In Round 1, faculty set initial cut-scores for each of four student learning objectives. In Rounds…

Concept mapping is a method of graphical learning that can be beneficial as a study method for concept linking and organization. Concept maps, which provide an elegant, easily understood representation of an expert's domain knowledge, are tools for organizing and representing knowledge. These tools have been used in educational environments to…