{"id":16071,"date":"2013-10-14t17:36:59","date_gmt":"2013-10-14t22:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/?page_id=16071"},"modified":"2021-02-17t15:28:07","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17t20:28:07","slug":"beyond-the-essay-formative","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/guides-sub-pages\/beyond-the-essay\/beyond-the-essay-formative\/","title":{"rendered":"beyond the essay, ii"},"content":{"rendered":"

print version<\/a><\/p>\n

formative activities: snapshots of learning in process<\/strong><\/h2>\n

concept maps & word webs<\/a> || word clouds<\/a><\/p>\n

as bass noted in his visible knowledge project work with faculty, what \u201cmost interested\u2014or eluded\u2014them about their students\u2019 learning\u201d involved the \u201c\u2019intermediate processes\u2019\u201d that occur before students write a paper or take an exam. \u00a0they were particularly eager to “gather information not available from finished products such as papers or ephemeral evidence such as class discussion, which they could not study reflectively” (bernstein & bass, 2005, p. 39). these earlier stages in learning are often hidden, kept private in the students\u2019 minds, leaving faculty to assume or guess what students think and know\u2014or don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

<\/a> this capturing of the learning-in-process is the goal of formative assessments, or low-stakes activities used to identify learning, gaps, and confusion well before the higher-stakes, summative assignments of essays, exams, and the like<\/strong>. this guide from the cft offers a variety of such assessments<\/a> (commonly called “cats,” classroom assessment techniques), but one is particularly effective at making visible these rich, elusive, telling moments:\u00a0 concept maps.<\/p>\n

concept maps & word webs <\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n
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students diagram their emerging frameworks, arguments, or narratives of personal understanding<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

concept maps are diagrams of how students connect ideas, particularly effective at \u201cexternalizing and making visible the cognitive events of learning\u201d (kandiko, hay, & weller, 2012, p. 73). word webs is an alternative term, most commonly used for concept maps made in collaborative groups (barkley, cross, & major, 2005, p. 226-231).\u00a0 these \u201ccognitive events\u201d include making and defining connections, demonstrating hierarchies or chronologies, developing ideas through support and examples\u2014and, when juxtaposing earlier and later concept maps, working out individualized frameworks of understanding, building an argument, forming more complex syntheses of ideas, and showing changes in thinking.<\/p>\n

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thinking in concept maps: spoke, chain, & network (hay, wells, & kinchin, 2008, p. 224)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

developed for biology classes, concept maps are often scored quantitatively: thinking of each map as a spoke<\/a> or a chain<\/a> (outlined as a and b to the right), its quality is measured in the accuracy and comprehensiveness of its hierarchy of ideas and number of links (kandiko, hay, & weller, 2012, p. 74).\u00a0 they can also be assessed qualitatively by thinking of them as networks<\/a> (c, right), evaluated by the accuracy, quality, and complexity of their connections and interconnections (hay, wells, & kinchin, 2008, p. 224). this latter purpose is perhaps one reason for the alternative term, “word webs.”<\/p>\n

even further, comparing two or more maps or webs by the same student can make visible changes in thinking\u2014additive or \u201cassimilative\u201d thinking in which students incrementally map new ideas onto old ones, or conceptual thinking in which students eventually revise and build their own their structures for understanding a concept. kandiko, hay, and weller\u2019s \u201cconcept mapping in the humanities to facilitate reflection: externalizing the relationship between public and personal learning\u201d (2012) focuses on this latter, conceptual approach, which they note is closer to the ways of constructing knowledge in the humanities. progressive maps or webs can document \u201ccontinual processes of rehearsal, revision and reflection among theory, argument and debate,\u201d or \u201crecreating meaning and personal understanding\u201d (p. 77-78). \u00a0the authors illustrate with a case study from a classics course in which students were simply asked to make three concept maps\u2014in the beginning, middle, and end of the semester\u2014of the overarching course topic, \u201c\u2019the impact of greek literature and culture on the roman world\u2019\u201d (p. 74).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
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one student’s first concept map (click to enlarge.)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
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the first map (left) reveals the student\u2019s early understanding with hierarchically, chronologically, and causatively organized ideas. this first attempt captures a \u201cgeneral, descriptive account of the subject matter, drawing on the presentation of public knowledge recalled from lectures and readings\u201d (p. 76). this kind of map can effectively document basic comprehension of course materials.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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same student’s mid-semester concept map (click to enlarge.)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
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the student\u2019s second map (left) illustrates the \u201cdevelopment of personal understanding\u201d of the course material (p. 76). the revision from the first to second map is the most dramatic, completely restructured in a more individualized way that reflects the student\u2019s personal process of making meaning and experimenting with his own frameworks for understanding–in other words. the “intermediate processes” sought in the visible knowledge project.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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same student’s end-of-semester concept map (click to enlarge.)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
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finally, the last map (left)\u2014read \u201cas a whole, instead of as a set of linked and cross-linked concepts\u201d\u2014illustrates the student’s \u201cconcentration and development of an argument\u201d that is “personally reflective and grounded in narrative\u201d (pp. 77, 79). beyond comprehension, this way of mapping documents the student’s efforts at practicing the ways of thinking of a classicist.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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sample word web (click to enlarge.) (barkley, cross, & major, p. 228)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

unlike the original use of concept maps to assess comprehension and additive knowledge in biology classrooms, this approach uncovers the shift from a student’s public reproduction of others\u2019 ideas and patterns to the process of creating the student’s own conceptual frameworks, arguments, and stories of the discipline.<\/p>\n

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to the right is an example of a word web–similar to a concept map but with more emphasis on words and networks.<\/p>\n

resource<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n