Showing papers on "Concept map published in 1980"

The Learner's Prior Knowledge: a Critical Review of Techniques for Probing its Organization

Abstract: Summaries English How can a teacher quickly gain a useful insight into a pupil's present ideas? How can he discern the major connections in the learner's existing thought content? This article discusses several different approaches. It examines the theoretical assumptions underlying them and considers how easily they could be adapted in the classroom as part of a diagnostic approach to teaching. The author suggests a more explicit distinction between the publicly agreed version of a scientific concept and the multiple private versions held by individuals. Learning can then be viewed as development and change of the latter, as words (concept labels) change or extend their meanings. The teacher's role is at first that of a diagnostician who tries to describe the learner's existing private concept. Later he may see himself as provocateur of its changes and extensions. It is also argued that terms such as ‘cognitive structure’ and ‘concept map’ do not adequately represent the fluidity of thought in which the ...

Learning Theory Applied to the Biology Classroom

Abstract: IMPORTANT ADVANCES in our understanding of how humans learn have occurred recently. The research activities of our group at Cornell University focus on how theoretical ideas about human learning can be applied to classroom teaching. A previous article in this journal (Novak 1979) presented some of the work we are doing in applying Gowin's Epistemological V to helping students acquire an insight into the nature of knowledge production as illustrated in laboratory work. Through our research we have found that it is crucially important to present both psychological concepts and epistemological ideas if we wish to advance students' understanding of a discipline, such as biology. Thus, we are also presenting to students in secondary schools and in colleges activities designed to help them understand the nature of knowledge and the processes scientists use in making new knowledge. To avoid the kind of biology instruction that leads to what Schwab (1962) called memorizing a "rhetoric of conclusions," we believe the most direct approach is to help students acquire learning strategies that provide insights into the conceptual nature of knowledge and the processes of knowledge production. The material presented here could be incorporated into an instructional unit of psychology, but it might also be used productively during the first weeks of a biology course to help students understand how they learn. Such knowledge will help them as they study biology and will be equally useful in courses on other subjects.