Page 108 - International Journal of Process Educaiton (Special Issue)

Note that the exploration questions are not critical thinking Concept Maps as a Learning Tool and Activity
questions. They are preparatory to reading or working with
a model and are intended purely to trigger prior knowledge Concept maps (see Figure 11 for a simple example) are
and help students become more metacognitively aware as a useful learning tool and, for promoting knowledge
they begin the reading assignment contained in the pre- retention and transfer, an effective (and possibly preferred)
activity. Exploration questions are now being used in the learning activity is to create concept maps. According to
Online Teaching Institute to help faculty learners in the Nesbit and Adesope, authors of a large-scale meta-analysis
same way. of concept map studies,

As a final example, Foundations of Organic Chemistry The meta-analysis found that, in comparison with
(Bucholtz, 2015) shows an instructor making the shift activities such as reading text passages, attending
from listing knowledge prerequisites to triggering prior lectures, and participating in class discussions,
knowledge. The book’s author, Ehren Bucholtz, realized concept mapping activities are more effective
that his students didn’t know what to do with a listing of for attaining knowledge retention and transfer.
prerequisite knowledge as shown in Figure 9; they simply Concept mapping was found to benefit learners
ignored it, as it wasn’t a task—it wasn’t performance across a broad range of educational levels, subject
based. The listing of information wasn’t triggering their areas, and settings. (2006)
prior knowledge. When Bucholtz upgraded the book from
the pre-market to the 1st edition (pending publication), he Concept mapping is listed as an appropriate in-class type
rewrote the prerequisite knowledge section as performance of learning activity in Overview of Learning Activities
tasks, also letting students know where to go to review (Wasserman, Davis & Astrab, 2007) and has been
content in those cases when they did they not have the increasingly featured as part of activities or experiences in
prior knowledge required to complete the task. Figure 10 curricula from Pacific Crest.
shows the new version of the prerequisite knowledge for
this same activity. In Learning to Learn: Becoming a Self-Grower (Apple,
Morgan & Hintze, 2013), Experience 11: Metacognition:
Thinking About My Thinking, students are given two mod-

Figure 8

EXPORATION DISCOVERY Think about your personal history and identify the three individuals in your life, other than parents or guardians,
QUESTIONS EXERCISE who have most helped you to become the person that you want to be. For each of these individuals, determine
the three areas where they helped you to grow or develop and how they did that (through what types of action
or activity). Also determine the characteristics the individual had that enabled them to help facilitate your
growth.

1. What are the key roles of a mentor?
2. What are critical characteristics of quality mentors?
3. Why would someone mentor someone else?
4. How do you get someone that you know to mentor you?
5. What are the responsibilities of the mentee in the mentoring process?

Figure 9 Simple Listing of Prerequisite Knowledge (Foundations of Organic Chemistry, Pre-Market Edition)

Prerequisite Knowledge

Gen Chem ‫ ܆‬The nucleus of an atom is a minor component of its size with most atomic
volume due to electron repulsion

Activity 8 ‫ ܆‬Non-covalent interactions affect physical properties

Activity 10 ‫ ܆‬Approximate bond angles in a molecule are based on VSEPR theory
‫ ܆‬Hybridization of atomic orbitals determines bond angles within a molecule

Activity 11 ‫ ܆‬IUPAC systematic names are used to identify straight, branched, or cyclic
alkanes, alkyl halides, and alcohols

106 International Journal of Process Education (February 2016, Volume 8 Issue 1)