I believe concept mapping and the cognitive learning theory is highly relative. First and foremost we would like for the information we present for the students to be life-long and for the students to retain information long-term. We learn in many different styles but the bottom line is learning. The cognitive learning theory is a theory of learning that includes text, images and yes the use of concept mapping, so yes there is huge correlation between Concept Mapping and the Cognitive Learning theory. What is concept mapping? Here is what Novak states; "Concept maps are graphical tools for organizing and representing knowledge. They include concepts, usually enclosed in circles or boxes of some type, and relationships between concepts indicated by a connecting line linking two concepts."The final item that was discussed in the article, The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How to Construct and Use Them included the statement "Concept mapping has been shown to help learners learn, researchers create new knowledge, administrators to better structure and manage organizations, writers to write, and evaluators assess learning." This is truly what it all about for all of us as educators.
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My school has become a thinking map school. Thinking maps are just another form of concept maps. We are now on our second year of using thinking maps for everything, and you can see the difference in our students. The students are able to decide which map to use depending on what we need to do. The students are learning how to take the information off the thinking maps and write papers from it. I think that they are better able to retain the information, because the information is organized in way that they understand when they learned it. I think we are just now seeing the tip of the iceberg for how thinking and concept maps will be used in the future.
ReplyDeleteYou are very correct! I agree and wish all schools would adopt thinking maps. It just makes sense. I am glad to see that your school is dedicated to the thinking map process. Thanks for thr response!
ReplyDeleteContent maps are certainly a way of presenting information that promotes the long-term storage of information. As you mentioned, content mapping is a part of the cognitive theory, and uses texts and pictures as a method of inspiring thinking. In our "Spotlight on Technology: Virtual Field Trips" Dr. Orey uses Ms. Amy Petitgout's virtual field trip of Ford's Theatre as an example of the power of virtual field trips. I enjoyed this virtual trip so much I used it as my own virtual field trip in our recent assignment. One cool technological tool that Ms. Petitgout utilizes in her classroom which helps to make Ford's Theatre come alive is the interactive Whiteboard. This type of student friendly technology would be great in having a class take a list of key concepts and collaborate on creating a concept map for the class!
ReplyDeleteHere is one of the concept maps.
ReplyDeletehttp://mywebspiration.com/launch.php