A study introduced elementary school students to concept maps--visual representations of a learner's thought processes. Nine teachers with two classes each (kindergarten through fourth grades represented) were taught the terminology of the concept map and were asked to initiate a number of activities in generating concept maps with their children.…

A small set of relationships has been identified which appears to be sufficient for describing all molecular and cellular reactions and structures discussed in an introductory biology course. A precise definition has been developed for each relationship. These 20 relationships are of four types: (1) analytical; (2) spatial; (3) temporal; and (4)…

Flow-diagrams, algorithms, decision logic tables, and concept maps are presented in detail as methods for teaching practical procedures, problem solving, and basic concepts in microbial genetics. It is suggested that the flexible use of these methods should lead to an improved understanding of microbial genetics. (Author/MA)

This report examines issues in the scale-up of assessment software from the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST). "Scale-up" is used in a metaphorical sense, meaning adding new assessment tools to CRESST's assessment software. During the past several years, CRESST has been developing and evaluating a…

Concept mapping is a technique for visually representing the structure of information, concepts, and the relationships between them. Concept maps are useful tools that help students learn about how they structure knowledge while supporting the process of knowledge construction or metaknowledge. This paper discusses the effect of concept mapping…

This paper explores the effect of using concept maps as study tools on achievement in chemistry. Tenth grade students engaged in building concept maps as homework to investigate the correlation between their mastery of concept mapping skills and their achievement in chemistry, and gender differences in using concept mapping as a homework tool.…

This paper examines differences between beginning and experienced art teachers' perceptions of teaching and learning. The paper first discusses how experienced and novice art teachers may vary in their thinking and approaches to instructional content. It then focuses on the results of a project that investigated curriculum development and teacher…

Discusses how concept maps with two dimensional diagrams which show hierarchical relationships among concepts of a discipline can be used in teaching physics. An example for teaching a course in electromagnetism at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil is presented. (HM)

Used a concept-mapping process to understand parents' (N=25) expectations of an elementary school counselor's role. Parents requested that the counselor become highly involved in providing services that involve support, referral, education, and information. Parents expected that the school counselor would collaborate extensively with them. Other…

Describes the use of concept maps as a metacognitive tool to help chemistry teachers and learners improve teaching and learning. Concept maps were used in response to changes in the conceptions of the nature of scientific knowledge and in how learning occurs. Concept maps are valuable in documenting and exploring the restructuring of conceptual…

Argues that policy-oriented educational research produced a new kind of knowledge: third order knowledge. Defines third-order knowledge as knowledge of and for experts whose purpose is the legislation and regulation of everyday lives. Proposes that expert knowledge motivates a critical analysis contextualized in a historical study of…

Discusses appropriate methodologies for investigating how learning occurs in the laboratory. Presents two techniques, concept mapping and V-diagramming, which can be effective research tools in probing students' understanding of chemical principles. These techniques can also be effective instructional tools that help students integrate lecture…

Discusses research traditions in education and in information retrieval and explores the theory of expected information which uses formulas derived from the Fano measure and Bayesian statistics. Demonstrates its application in a study on the effects of concept mapping on the search behavior of tenth-grade biology students. (Author/LRW)

Explains that concept maps can be utilized as a method of alternative assessment in psychology courses. Evaluates the usefulness of concept maps by examining student concept maps at the beginning and end of the semester. States that concept maps are useful in assessing student knowledge. (CMK)

Concept mapping, which requires learners to plot concepts and their interrelationships in a meaningful organizational network, was compared with an established curriculum approach. The usefulness of the technique is discussed in terms of its ability to individualize and raise the quality of learning. (JD)