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The Origins of the Concept Mapping Tool and the Continuing Evolution of the Tool

DOI:10.1057/palgrave.ivs.9500126
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Joseph D. Novak at Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition
Joseph D. Novak
Alberto J. Cañas
Alberto J. Cañas
Alberto J. Cañas
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A research program at Cornell University that sought to study the ability of children to acquire science concepts and the effect of this learning on later schooling led to the need for a new tool to describe explicit changes in children's conceptual understanding. Concept mapping was invented in 1972 to meet this need, and subsequently numerous other uses have been found for this tool. Underlying the research program and the development of the concept mapping tool was an explicit cognitive psychology of learning and an explicit constructivist epistemology. In 1987, collaboration began between Novak and Cañas and others at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, then part of the University of West Florida. Extending the use of concept mapping to other applications such as the integration of concept mapping with the World Wide Web (WWW) led to the development of software that enhanced the potential of concept mapping, evolving into the current version of CmapTools now used worldwide in schools, universities, corporations, and governmental and non-governmental agencies. Differences between concept maps and other knowledge representation tools are described. The integration of concept mapping software programs with the WWW and other new technologies permits a new kind of concept map-centred learning environment wherein learners build their own knowledge models, individually or collaboratively, and these can serve as a basis for life-long meaningful learning. Combined with other educational practices, use of CmapTools permits a New Model for Education. Preliminary studies are underway to assess the possibilities of this New Model.
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The Origins of the Concept Mapping Tool and the Continuing Evolution of the Tool - J. D. Novak, A. J. Cañas
Data
July 2015
Joseph D. Novak · Alberto J. Cañas
... La tecnica delle mappe concettuali si basa sull'idea fondamentale che l'apprendimento è un processo di acquisizione e assimilazione di elementi conoscitivi relativi a nuovi concetti e proposizioni sulle conoscenze preesistenti. 2,3 Le mappe concettuali sono, gomento complesso (può essere uno studio, un progetto, un tema) che permettono la comprensione e l'acquisizione di nuove conoscenze, promuovendo la memoria dell'apprendimento su quell'argomento. ...
... di proposizioni. 2 Per la costruzione di mappe concettuali, infatti, vengono utilizzate parole di collegamento -sentativa delle mappe concettuali. 3 concettuali nella rappresentazione della conoscenza in diverse discipline da utilizzare nella formazione come nei campi dell'educazione e della comunicazio- [4][5][6][7][8] In considerazione dei diversi livelli di capacità di comprensione di concetti complessi, le mappe concettuali, grazie alla loro capacità di esplicitare le relazioni tra concetti, sono state considerate strumenti che promuovono la comprensione e il pensiero critico nella formazione medica, attraverso l'integrazione di infor-lineare a modelli olistici più integrati. ...
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... These help students visualise the interrelationships between factors in social-ecological systems. The construction of causal maps can be scaffolded in a variety of ways, such as by completing nodes or relationships in partially completed causal maps, constructing maps from a list of given items and finally to constructing causal maps from scratch (Cox et al., 2018;Novak & Cañas, 2006. Group work and peer reviews of causal maps are also recommended to deepen reflection and understanding (Novak & Cañas, 2006;Schwendimann & Linn, 2016). ...
... The construction of causal maps can be scaffolded in a variety of ways, such as by completing nodes or relationships in partially completed causal maps, constructing maps from a list of given items and finally to constructing causal maps from scratch (Cox et al., 2018;Novak & Cañas, 2006. Group work and peer reviews of causal maps are also recommended to deepen reflection and understanding (Novak & Cañas, 2006;Schwendimann & Linn, 2016). Fig. 3 provides an example of a causal map of factors that impact the development of a (human) social-ecological system (with some elements that are transferable to other species). ...
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... A criação dos mapas conceituais foi uma consequência da pesquisa desenvolvida por Joseph Novak e colaboradores no início da década de 1970 (ver nº 2 na Figura 1) na Cornell University (Novak & Cañas, 2006). Inicialmente, os mapas serviram para representar o entendimento conceitual das crianças que participavam de uma investigação envolvendo a instrução tutorial por áudio. ...
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... Therefore, the zoom map may help students structure and interrelate fragmented knowledge and achieve integrated knowledge. Within the levels, the horizontal relations are drawn similar to concept maps (Novak and Cañas 2006). We adapted the concept map because it has already proven fruitful in the context of systems thinking Schwendimann & Linn, 2016) and is known for its capability to foster conceptual interrelations Van Drie et al., 2005). ...
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References
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Educational theory and practice are historically influenced by the view of behavioral psychologists that learning is synonymous with behavior change. Helping People Learn argues for the practical importance of an alternate view, that learning is synonymous with a change in the meaning of experience. Based on the foundations of cognitive psychology and constructivist epistemology, this book presents a science of education that can guide the development of successful and meaningful educational programs. It serves as a sequel to the best-selling Learning How to Learn and includes ideas developed through the author's research and training programs conducted over the past thirty years. It emphasises the power of the knowledge representation tool 'concept maps', designed to facilitate meaningful learning and creativity. This book capitalises on the advances in technology and is of interest to students, professionals and researchers in educational psychology and learning theory.
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Problems and issues in the use of concept maps in science assessment
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The search for new, authentic science assessments of what students know and can do is well under way. This has unearthed measures of students' hands‐on performance in carrying out science investigations, and has been expanded to discover more or less direct measures of students' knowledge structures. One potential finding is concept mapping, the focus of this review. A concept map is a graph consisting of nodes representing concepts and labeled lines denoting the relation between a pair of nodes. A student's concept map is interpreted as representing important aspects of the organization of concepts in his or her memory (cognitive structure). In this article we characterize a concept map used as an assessment tool as: (a) a task that elicits evidence bearing on a student's knowledge structure in a domain, (b) a format for the student's response, and (c) a scoring system by which the student's concept map can be evaluated accurately and consistently. Based on this definition, multiple concept‐mapping techniques were found from the myriad of task, response format, and scoring system variations identified in the literature. Moreover, little attention has been paid to the reliability and validity of these variations. The review led us to arrive at the following conclusions: (a) an integrative working cognitive theory is needed to begin to limit this variation in concept‐mapping techniques for assessment purposes; (b) before concept maps are used for assessment and before map scores are reported to teachers, students, the public, and policy makers, research needs to provide reliability and validity information on the effect of different mapping techniques; and (c) research on students' facility in using concept maps, on training techniques, and on the effect on teaching is needed if concept map assessments are to be used in classrooms and in large‐scale accountability systems. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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