Identifying strategies to support concept map-based collaborative reflection

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore strategies to support concept-map based collaborative reflection for conceptual change. Today, research on conceptual change is among the most central areas in teaching concepts across various subjects. One major distinguishing feature of conceptual change as compared to traditional concept learning, which is usually marked by "enrichment kind", is that it places greater emphasis on the existence of learners`` prior conceptions. The learner``s conceptions often include naive and intuitive explanations which slightly or significantly differ from to-be-learned concepts, and are highly resistant to change. Conceptual change, therefore, is a time consuming process and requires the active engagement of the learners. The critical element of the learner``s engagement is his or her reflective activities, often referred to as metacognitive skills. Of various forms of reflection such as individual reflection, mutual reflection, or collaborative reflection, collaborative reflection is one of the most powerful means for conceptual change, since it involves both triggering cognitive conflict and promoting reflective thinking. For successful collaborative reflection, however, it is important to explicitly externalize the individuals`` conceptual understanding. A concept map is an effective tool which represents the learner``s conceptual understanding and reveals explicit changes in his or her conceptual knowledge. Thus, it can serve as a useful visualization tool which facilitates externalization of the learner``s conceptions, and interaction among the learners, possibly resulting in more cognitive conflicts and better conceptual change. Though concept maps and collaborative reflection has potentials for conceptual change, there is little attention given to how these two approaches contribute to the learner``s conceptual change together and how to support such concept map-based collaborative reflection. Therefore, we expect this study can provide insights into the concept map based collaborative reflection as a way to promote conceptual change.