Details
| Type of Product: | Journal Article |
| Average Rating: | 
based on 2 reviews |
| Publication Title: | Science Scope |
| Publication Date: | 7/1/2005 |
| Pages: | 5 |
| Grade Level: | Middle School |
Description
Create an exciting learning environment and help monitor students’ understanding with the use of concept maps. Concept maps provide a unique graphical view of how students organize, connect, and synthesize information. As a result, concept mapping offers benefits to both students and teachers.
Ideas For Use
A carefully designed concept map activity can be a tremendous asset for insights into your students' thinking about science. Concept map assessments provide a different perspective on student understanding that complements selected-response and performance-based instruments.
Additional Info
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Science Discipline:
(mouse over for full classification)
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Communicating
Scientific habits of mind
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| Intended User Role: | Curriculum Supervisor, Middle-Level Educator, Teacher |
| Educational Issues: | Achievement, Assessment of students, Classroom management, Curriculum, Inquiry learning, Instructional materials, Teacher preparation, Teaching strategies |
Technical
| Resource Format: | application/pdf |
| Size: | 215 KB |
| Requirements: | Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader |
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National Standards Correlation
This resource has 6 correlations with the National Standards.
[HIDE CORRELATIONS]
- Science as Inquiry
- Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
- Communicate investigations and explanations.
- Think critically and logically to make the relationships between evidence and explanations.
- Content Standards
- Equity
- Prepares educators to understand and appreciate all students, create safe, orderly and supportive learning environments, and hold high expectations for their academic achievement. (NSDC)
- Quality Teaching
- Deepens educators’ content knowledge, provides them with research-based instructional strategies to assist students in meeting rigorous academic standards, and prepares them to use various types of classroom assessments appropriately. (NSDC)
- Teaching Standards
- Teachers of science engage in ongoing assessment of their teaching and of student learning.
- Analyze assessment data to guide teaching.
- Use multiple methods and systematically gather data about student understanding and ability.
Customer Reviews
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Concept Maps and Science |
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Reviewed by: Gail Olivas on September 4, 2012 |
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The idea of having students create concept maps in science was new to me. I had used concept maps to introduce new terms to the class in order to discuss prior knowledge and clarify meanings. I can see, though, how a concept map would be an excellent means of assessment. Students would need to understand the relationships between important terms, and a concept map would reflect this understanding. I think the suggestion for the teacher to supply a list of terms is a good one, since this would give the students an idea of what is expected of them. I would imagine that my fifth graders would need me to model more than just one concept map before I could expect them to create one of their own. Once the students understand how to create a concept map, I think it is an excellent way to organize information and would help with several of my students who have a very hard time with organization. The use of arrows between terms also makes it easier for an English Language Learner or children with disabilities to get their point across without having to write complex sentences. I would like to try it with my classes to see if they could catch on. |
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Concept Maps: Snapshots of Understanding |
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Reviewed by: Carolyn M (Buffalo Grove, IL) on October 17, 2011 |
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Concept mapping is what? Can one teach students how to create them? Why do concept maps benefit the learning of middle school students? These are the questions answered in this article. The authors include instructions for teaching this strategy through a concept mapping activity that can serve as an assessment tool for the teacher and as an instructional aid for the students. The authors use the concepts of density and buoyancy to explain their concept mapping activity. Student-generated examples and a rubric to assess the concept maps are shared within the article. I found the step-by-step instructions easy to follow and appreciated the two URLs listed in the resources. One resource is a word document that contains the basic instructions for teaching the concept map activity described in the article, and the other resource is a website about SEAL (Stanford Education Assessment Laboratory), an organization that provides access to research articles on curriculum-embedded formative assessments and learning. |
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