Does Collaborative Concept Mapping Enhance Group Members” Knowledge Convergence?
Collaborative learning is considered successful,in part,if knowledge convergence occurs.Knowledge convergence indicates similar knowledge representations being shared among group members in the process of collaborative learning.However,few studies have examined the effectiveness of instructional strategies in achieving knowledge convergence or the assessment methods of convergence.This paper examines whether learners attained knowledge convergence during their collaborative concept mapping,and explores novel approaches to document the occurrence of knowledge convergence.In this study,Radiographic Physics undergraduates were divided into triads.Our concept mapping task asked the students to infer possible causes of an x-ray machine breakdown.The students were asked to submit an individual concept map to represent their diagnosis.Each triad then met together and made a map representing their collective solution to the same problem.After their collaboration,the students revised their individual concept maps on their own.Through Pathfinder analysis,it was found that after engaging in group concept mapping,the team members” knowledge structures became more similar.The unique influence of collaboration on the achievement of knowledge convergence was also demonstrated through direct comparisons of the students” maps.At the end of this paper,we compare our findings with the results from prior studies and discuss the contributions of this study to the development of effective assessment methodology of knowledge convergence.
concept mapping collaborative learning knowledge convergence problem solving
Weichao Chen Carla Allen David Jonassen
Center for Teaching and Learning, University of South Dakota School of Health Professions, University of Missouri School of Information Science and Learning Technologies, University of Missouri, Recently passed awa
国内会议
北京
英文
47-53
2013-05-27（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）