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In this paper concept maps, a pedagogical tool which improves the effectiveness of lectures and help s students achieve a higher level of understanding , will be discussed. Concept maps are a visual representation of ideas designed to illustrate the relationships between the ideas. There are a variety of ways concept maps can be used in the mechani...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... concept map of an entire mechanical engineering curriculum is shown in Figure 2. This map could be provided to the students in their freshman year. ...
Context 2
... freshmen this concept map and explaining it to them it is hoped that motivation will be provided for the basic math and science courses taken by these students and it will reduce attrition since the students can see how the material in these courses fits into the entire curriculum and is critical for subsequent courses. The concept map shown in Fig. 2 is intended to provide a snapshot of the curriculum. Note that it does not show the individual courses or when courses are taken but rather the general areas of ...
Context 3
... example of how one of the blocks shown in Fig. 2, the mechanics block to be specific, can be expanded into a sequence of courses is shown in Figure 3. The prerequisites for each course are easily shown and the distribution of the courses throughout the four year curriculum is apparent. One way of viewing Figs. 2 and 3 is that Fig. 2 is presenting a global view of the subjects ...
Context 4
... example of how one of the blocks shown in Fig. 2, the mechanics block to be specific, can be expanded into a sequence of courses is shown in Figure 3. The prerequisites for each course are easily shown and the distribution of the courses throughout the four year curriculum is apparent. One way of viewing Figs. 2 and 3 is that Fig. 2 is presenting a global view of the subjects students are to learn in the curriculum and Fig. 3 presents the specific structure (i.e. sequence of courses) that has been designed to cover this ...
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Citations
... Concept maps are the teaching materials that can be developed for various purposes, such as evaluating the knowledge of an individual or a group about a subject, developing new ideas, revealing complicated ideas, sharing information, or explaining the purposes of a certain subject (Cornwell, 1996;Siau & Tan, 2008). Concept maps enable meaningful learning as they require students to analyze their own knowledge and organize the concepts and relationships among them in a structured way. ...
... Concept maps are the teaching materials that can be developed for various purposes, such as evaluating the knowledge of an individual or a group about a subject, developing new ideas, revealing complicated ideas, sharing information, or explaining the purposes of a certain subject (Cornwell, 1996;Siau & Tan, 2008). Concept maps enable meaningful learning as they require students to analyze their own knowledge and organize the concepts and relationships among them in a structured way. ...
Concept maps are used to assess and improve prospective teachers' conceptual understanding levels. In this research, the aim was to describe prospective science teachers' conceptual understanding of the atom by using concept maps. The research employed the case study approach, one of the qualitative research patterns. The research group consisted of 15 fourth-year prospective science teachers. The concept maps drawn by the participants were used to describe their conceptual understanding of the atom. For data analysis, the descriptive analysis method, one of the qualitative analysis methods, was used. The data obtained from the concept maps were divided into the categories previously defined by the researcher. The created categories were evaluated by two academics with expertise in physics education, and a correspondence analysis was conducted. As a result of the research, it was concluded that prospective teachers could establish successful and meaningful propositions in concept maps, however, most of the propositions were collected in the categories of "meaningless," "improvable," or "acceptable."
... Concept maps can be used to capture the structure and content of student knowledge in a given domain. Use of concept maps as assessment tools has been suggested for characterizing student understanding in a variety of engineering disciplines, including civil engineering [13], industrial engineering [12], bioengineering [14], and mechanical engineering [15]. ...
Concept maps are graphical tools for organizing knowledge that can be used to assess students' conceptual knowledge in a particular domain. Construction of concept maps is completed by enclosing concepts related to a central topic in boxes and using connecting lines, as well as linking phrases, to depict relationships between concepts. Since concept maps mimic the structure of internal semantic networks, student-generated constructs may be used to infer a student's understanding of a particular domain. To quantify student knowledge as captured in a concept map, several scoring methods are available that range from component-level to map-level analysis. Use of concept maps in engineering education has been limited in part due to difficulty in administration and scoring of student constructs. This workshop is designed to aid educators and researchers in effective and efficient use of concept maps in engineering education, with emphasis on development, application, and scoring of concept mapping assessments for first-year engineering contexts.
... Use of concept maps as assessment tools has been suggested for characterizing student understanding in a variety of engineering disciplines, including civil engineering (Roberts, Haden, Thompson, & Parker, 2014; Valdes Vasquez & Klotz, 2010), industrial engineering (Besterfield-Sacre et al., 2004), bioengineering (Walker, King, & Cordray, 2003), mechanical engineering (Cornwell, 1996), systems engineering (Jablokow, DeFranco, & Richmond, 2013), and engineering mechanics Variable descriptions CD i,j, 5 concept distribution for category i for student j NC i,j 5 number of concepts included in category i for student j NC j 5 total number of concepts included in student j concept map (L Cat ) j 5 relative measure of connections between concepts from different categories for student j NIL j 5 number of interlinks included in student j concept map ðN Cat Þ j 5 number of categories included by student j CO j 5 categorical complexity index for student j (Moore, Pierce, & Williams, 2012). Although concept maps are widely used as assessment tools, few studies provide a comprehensive comparison of scoring methods. ...
Background
Conceptual understanding is a prerequisite for engineering competence. Concept maps may be effective tools for assessing conceptual knowledge, yet further work is needed to examine scoring methods.
Purpose
Our purpose was to evaluate the efficacy of three concept map scoring methods. Traditional scoring requires judges to count concept map components. Holistic scoring requires judges to analytically evaluate concept maps using a rubric. Categorical scoring requires judges to categorize concepts according to relevant categories before quantification of overall complexity.
Design/Method
In this study, concept maps were collected from 72 undergraduates before and after a capstone design course. Judges analyzed the concept maps using three methods. Using statistical analyses, we examined the comparability, interrater reliability, and convergent/divergent validity of scoring methods.
Results
While traditional scoring allowed judges to score concept maps relatively quickly, holistic scoring allowed judges to better capture changes in knowledge structure, because ranking of data was required without assuming hierarchical concept arrangement. Only categorical scoring provided insight into content and structure of student knowledge. For all methods, interrater reliability was acceptable, and convergent/divergent validity was established.
Conclusions
Due to its applicability to concept maps of varying structures, holistic scoring is best if more than one judge is available; traditional scoring is appropriate if there are time constraints or if multiple methods are used. Categorical scoring has potential as a supplemental or stand‐alone method, depending on the needs of the instructor or researcher.
... However, there are many domains in which the concept mapping can be used. They can be used as a " brainstorming " tool, in the system design process (Kramer, 1990), to help students understand the structure of the curriculum, the relatonship between courses, and the material within a course (Cornwell, 1996; Morsi, Ibrahim & Williams, 2007) and to evaluate students' understanding. Focusing in the student evaluaton, Tokdemir in (Tokdemir & Cagiltay, 2010) propose the use of the concept map technique to beter visualize and discover all the connectons between the concepts of Computer Engineering. ...
This paper proposes several activities that encourage self-learning in engineering courses. For each activity, the context and the pedagogical issues addressed are described emphasizing strengths and weaknesses. Specifically, this work describes and implements five activities, which are: questionnaires, conceptual maps, videos, jigsaw and projects. These activities are applied in seven different knowledge fields and are conducted individually or in group depending on the nature of the subject and of the activity. Furthermore, this paper shows how the same activity can be applied in subjects of different years and how the implementation level changes, depending on the course in which it is conducted. The activities proposed have been introduced in engineering courses, but they can also be applied in any other knowledge field. Finally, the paper proposes four rubrics to assess three of the proposed activities (videos, jigsaw and project), being two of them for the project activity.
... In engineering mechanics courses such as statics, dynamics and mechanics of materials, research has shown promise for using concept maps as advance organizers [6], [7] . Although no research has been performed specifically in the context of engineering mechanics courses, one would expect concept mapping to be an effective reflective learning activity in such courses, as they have been successfully used in similar courses such as physics [8] . ...
Concept maps are graphical representations of cognitive knowledge structures. Although they
were originally developed as a way to follow and understand changes in student knowledge, they
have proven to be effective instructional tools. Concept maps consist of labeled nodes that
represent concepts, or perceived regularities or patterns, and links that are labeled to indicate the
relationships between the nodes. Current work with concept maps is limited to small maps that
cover only sections of a class or the entire class at a high level of abstraction. Due to problems
in interpreting concept maps with numerous nodes and links, maps of larger domains are limited
in the detail the can represent. The authors are exploring the use of interactive digital tools as a
way to present large-scale concept maps that organize information and show connections across
the curriculum without overwhelming the user visually. As an exemplar, the authors have
chosen the content in an engineering statics course. If successful, the concept mapping tool
could be used to cognitively link information between courses in engineering mechanics and
then across the entire engineering curriculum. As the first step in this process, the authors set out
to capture an expert’s knowledge of engineering statics in the form of a course-wide concept
map. This paper details the process of capturing expert knowledge of a course and organizing
this information into a concept map that accurately represents the information taught in the
course.
... Concept maps also support reading comprehension, knowledge management, and encourage positive self-concept [3]. Conceptual learning has been used in Mechanical, Chemical, and Computer Engineering disciplines4567. Concept maps have been used as a learning tool as well as an assessment and evaluation tool in different disciplines. ...
... The study revealed that the types of concept maps generated followed the patterns suggested by Hart: branching, cat's cradle, web and linear [5]. Turns et al. [7], discussed concept maps as a useful tool for assessment at the course and program level.For student evaluation, the synthesis level in Bloom's taxonomy, which is equivalent to the expert CM, " is well beyond the level a student achieves by the end of the course " , Cornwell [6]. As a learning tool, Lin [8] used concept maps as an instructional aid for clarifying and linking logic design concepts in a Computer Engineering curriculum. ...
... Concept have been also used for curriculum conception and development. Cornwell [6] presented the use of concept maps as an evaluation tool for the Mechanical Engineering curriculum as a whole and for courses within. This paper reports on the use of concept maps as a means to increase student awareness of curriculum elements in their program of study. ...
Concept mapping has been traditionally used as a tool for active learning, student's learning assessment and evaluation. In an attempt to achieve student learning, curricula development and assessment have taken new and diverse approaches. Concept mapping is one novel way for curricula development and validation of program outcomes and their linkages with required skills and competencies' levels. Mechanical, Chemical, and Computer Engineering have used concept maps across a wide range of educational applications: from simply creating a conceptual overview of course objectives for students to using them for curricula evaluation and improvement. This paper reports on the use of concept maps for both extremes. The paper presents a review of concept mapping applications in engineering disciplines in general and in Electrical and Computer Engineering in specific. The generic concept map framework is presented and its expansion into the specific mapping for the authors' affiliated University's baccalaureate engineering degrees is presented. The validation process of the curriculum map is discussed. The impact of the conceptual presentation of the curriculum to freshman and sophomore students is measured through surveys and the data is discussed.
... Concept maps can be used by instructors as a guide for the development of instructional material, to present an outline of the material to be covered in a course or in a particular lecture. So far there has been little reported use of concept mapping in dynamics [16]. Markow and Lonning [17] found that presenting a completed concept map did not produce significant effectiveness on college students' problem-solving performance. ...
A survey of a large number of well-known textbooks for an undergraduate dynamics class showed that often new concepts are introduced without a clear connection to previously discussed material. For example, the concepts of work done by a force, linear momentum, angular momentum, and power are often introduced without a clear direct connection to Newton’s law. Similarly, in rigid body dynamics, important concepts such as the center of mass and the moments of inertia of the body are often introduced with little or no background. This article shows how all the important concepts in dynamics flow directly and logically from Newton’s laws. This is done through simple direct derivations. Connections are made clear by concept maps that help students understand how these different concepts are related. In addition to introducing new concepts and deriving some of the basic equations, a dynamics class should also introduce students to problem solving help them develop a systematic approach. This article describes a five step approach that is recommended for both high context and low context problems. In that context we stress that problem solving is a process that involves the application of known concepts and mathematics.
... Utiliser des cartes de concepts pour l'ingénierie n'est pas nouveau [9] [4]. En particulier, UML peut être considéré comme un meta-modèle de cartes de concepts pour le génie logiciel à objets. ...
... In the past ten years, concept maps and concept questions have been used to teach and assess conceptual understanding in mathematics and science education.[20][24] Now, these tools are being applied to humanities and social sciences, and to some extent to engineering education.[25][28] Concept maps are useful for identifying and organizing concepts and their relationships to each other. ...
Conceptual understanding is the ability to apply knowledge across a variety of instances or circumstances. Several strategies can be used to teach and assess concepts, e.g., inquiry, exposition, analogies, mnemonics, imagery, concept maps, and concept questions. This paper focuses on the last two -concept maps and concept questions. Concept maps are two-dimensional, hierarchical diagrams that show the structure of knowledge within a discipline. Concept questions are questions posed to students to encourage higher order thinking and help them understand the basic principles of a discipline. This paper describes current progress at MIT in the development and use of concept maps and concept questions in aerospace engineering.
