Webspiration gave me inspiration. So here it is.
Continuing from the last post of teachers as collaborators, I thought: Let’s now bring in the concept map concept, (sounds funny but it is grammatically correct). So we have our Social Studies teacher map out her plan on the chosen topic “relationships” and the links to that topic – love, conflict, sharing etc, (try to visualize it on a map). Then the science teacher follows through in her classes showing the relationship between, for example, cells in the body or the function of joints, the role of the muscles etc. In English Language simple story-writing structure is taught - Introduction, Body and Conclusion showing how the parts are RELATED. Get the point?
The idea is to focus on the topic “relationship” while still teaching your content and then to formulate that on a map as you plan for the term. Each area adds their map showing connectivity. Everyone then comes together with their maps; no long-winded talking, but visuals that highlight how they hope to present their relationship, then discussion, fine-tuning and execution. And the students? They are benefiting from a seamless flow of learning, gaining knowledge that makes sense, connecting dots, as scaffolding takes place. What about the enthusiasm generated among teachers? Do we think there will be? Who knows, but it sounds pretty exciting to me.
Just a thought: What if the final product is displayed at the end of the term in a grand concept map representing all the areas and how they are connected. What do you think the impact would be on our students?
Check out this article: "Using Concept Maps to Gauge Students' Understanding". You can access it from: http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Lee_ConceptMaps/. I found it to be practical and useful. Thoughts anyone?
Great reflections Angela!
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the article on concept mapsNovak and Canas(2008) and then did the webspiration exercise it reminded me of when I used to teach in the primary school and I used the brainstorming exercise with students in getting ideas as a pre-writing exercise. Now I have learned that this is called a parking lot.Then students were taught how to do a semantic map where similar ideas were grouped under a heading. What I really want to say is that research is an important tool in education and learning- for research has shown that in learning on/off the internet, the concept map is a very powerful tool. I think I underestimated the power and usefulness of such a tool.
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