CONCEPT MAPPING STRATEGY OF LEARNING SCIENCE TO

ENHANCE CONCEPTUAL CLARITY AMONG SECONDARY

SCHOOL VERNACULAR MEDIUM STUDENTS

Dr. Vasundhara Padmanabhan

vasundhara.padmanabhan@gmail.com
Dr Hemalata Marathe
Paper No. 149

Category: b. Secondary/middle /senior school science education

Abstract
The effective learning of specific scientific subject requires not only the knowledge of different
concepts that the subject contains, but also the adequate relation among such concepts in order to
obtain a satisfactory meaning of them. Most of the science learning involves a lot of verbal
jargon, making it difficult for students to understand the links between the concepts and sub
concepts thus promoting rote learning. It becomes all the more difficult for vernacular medium
students. This paper presents the effectiveness of concept mapping technique in enhancing the
conceptual clarity in science among vernacular medium class VIII students when used as a tool
for teaching, learning and evaluation.

Science teachers are renovating active learning strategies to enable the students to construct their
own knowledge and gain conceptual clarity, which is necessary for higher order thinking.
Among Piaget, Bruner, Ausubel and Vygotsky, the advocates of constructivism, Ausubel’s
subsumer model has led to concept mapping as an effective and upcoming constructivist
approach to develop clear concepts among secondary school students, as they move towards the
learning of abstract concepts. The effective learning of specific scientific subject requires not
only the knowledge of different concepts that the subject contains, but also the adequate relation
among such concepts in order to obtain a satisfactory meaning of them. In this sense, it makes it
necessary for all teachers to look for methodologies to achieve an effective instruction, that is, a
teaching that is conducive to meaningful learning. The purpose of this research was to study the
influence of concept mapping strategy on the conceptual clarity of secondary school students in
Science. The study was conducted on a sample of vernacular medium students who were taught
two units of equal difficulty: Atomic Structure (unit 1)and Atmospheric Pressure (unit 2) -
through concept mapping strategy. The study focused on knowing if conceptual clarity improved
with more and more practice in representing knowledge through concept maps. The hypothesis
stated that there will be no significant difference in the means of posttest scores of the
participants in the tests on Atomic Structure and Atmospheric Pressure.

Significance
Concept mapping is being researched of late as an alternative strategy to teaching and testing. It
has been found to be an effective teaching method which enhances meaningful learning. Feeling
like more active learners, concept mappers are empowered to move toward more meaningful
learning. Concept mapping appeared to enhance clarity of learning, integration and retention of
knowledge (Novak, J.D. and Heinze-fry 1990). Concept mapping as an instructional tool had an
effect on the achievements of students who also reflected a positive attitude towards concept
mapping as an effective teaching strategy (Rao M 2003). Some have suggested improvements in
constructing the concept maps: concept maps should be construction of concept maps should be
based on certain kind of discipline and evaluation of it should also be based on semantics of
linking words and not on graphical criteria alone (Kharatmal M 2004). Concept mapping was
found to be an effective alternative teaching and testing strategy for the inclusive science
classroom (Thomas. S and Kharade K 2008). Some studies have showed that the participants
hold idiosyncratic concepts not consistently coincident with those of the prescribed curriculum,
and that everyday concepts are retained more than are scientific concepts (Ross, B. and Hugh, M
(1991). Concept mapping can be a useful strategy in tracking student’s evolving constructions of
knowledge in a particular subject area and in promoting reflection (Barbara B. and Joyce S.
1990). Concept mapping offers a valid and potentially useful technique for documenting and
exploring conceptual change in biology (Josephine W. and Joel M. 1990). It is felt that research
on student’s facility in using concept maps, on training techniques, and on the effect on teaching
is needed if concept map assessments are to be used in classrooms and in large-scale
accountability systems (Araceli, M. and Shavelson, R.1996).

Many researchers have studied the concept maps as a research and evaluation tool. The concept
map provides a theoretically powerful and psychometrically sound tool for assessing conceptual
change in the experimental and classroom settings (Markham, K. M. and Mintze, J. 1994).
Collaborative concept mapping was found to provide a context for teachers in changing their
classroom environments from objectivist to constructivist metaphor (Roth, M. and Roychoudhury
1994). A few researchers have showed concept mapping to be beneficial for learning, and to
support sustained small-group discussion of scientific ideas. Concept mapping/learning cycle and
concept mapping treatment groups significantly outperformed from the expository treatment
group in conceptual understanding of diffusion and osmosis (Odom, A. and Kelly, P. 2001). The
cyclic structure, the quantification of the header concept and the focus question “How” in
concept maps significantly increased dynamic thinking (Derbentseva, N., Safayeni, F. 2007).
The teaching of environmental studies through concept mapping strategy helped students in
enhancing the retention rate, stimulating creativity among the students. It also helped in
motivating them, increasing the level of interest, high level of critical thinking and reducing
anxiety (Mary, R. and Raj, P. 2007). Concept mapping was significantly more effective than the
traditional /expository teaching strategy in enhancing learning in biology and reduced student’s
anxiety towards the learning of biology(especially in males) (Olugbemiro J., Folusho A., Peter
A. 1990 ). The researcher wanted to know whether concept mapping will prove to be effective in
enhancing conceptual clarity of vernacular medium students in science subject.
Theory
Meaningful learning involves a conscious effort on the part of the learner to relate new
knowledge in a non-arbitrary way to relevant existing concepts in the learner’s cognitive
structure (Ausubel 1968). Concept mapping is a process of meaning making. A concept is a
perceived regularity in events or records of events or objects, designated by a Label (Novak,
1984). Key to the construction of a concept map is the set of concepts on which it is based.
Concept mapping was developed by Novak and his team of researchers at Cornell University,
Ithaca, New York. The concept mapping was developed based on Ausubel’s (1968) Assimilation
theory of cognitive development. Concept maps are two-dimensional graphical representation of
a knowledge in a given domain (Novak and Gowin, 1984) developed for achieving meaningful
learning in classroom (Ausubel, et.al. 1978).

Concept mapping is a technique for representing knowledge in graphs. Networks consist of

nodes (points/ vertices) and links (arcs/ edges). Nodes represent concepts and links represent the
relations between concepts.

Concept mapping is the process of organizing concepts and relationships between concepts in a
hierarchical manner, from more inclusive concepts to more specific, less inclusive concepts
(Novak & Godwin, 1984). Concept maps are hierarchical in that the more general, more
inclusive concepts are at the top of the map, with progressively more specific, less inclusive
concepts arranged below them. The hierarchical organization of concepts in a concept map is
supposed to reflect the hierarchical organization of knowledge in cognitive structure while links
between concepts demonstrate the manner in which new concepts are integrated with existing
knowledge structure. Concept maps are intended to represent meaningful relationships between
concepts in the form of propositions. Propositions are two or more concept labels linked by
words in a semantic unit. Concept map simply means concepts connected by a linking word to
form a proposition.

Tony Buzan describes mind maps as: "a mind map consists of a central word or concept, around
the central word you draw the 5 to 10 main ideas that relate to that word. You then take each of
those child words and again draw the 5 to 10 main ideas that relate to each of those words."
The difference between concept maps and mind maps is that a mind map has only one main
concept, while a concept map may have several. This comes down to the point that a mind map
can be represented as a tree, while a concept map may need a network representation.
Concept mapping is a process of meaning making. A concept is a perceived regularity in events
or records of events or objects, designated by a Label (Nov 1984). Key to the construction of a
concept map is the set of concepts on which it is based.
Coming up with the list of concepts to include in a map is really is just an issue of retrieving
from long term memory. It is the process of linking the concepts to create meaningful
propositions within the structure of concept map that is the difficult task.

Design and procedure

The study followed a pre experimental design: one shot case study. The researcher made use of
convenient and purposive sampling technique in order to select the experimental groups for the
study. Two schools affiliated to the State Board - private-aided and government-aided - were
selected. From each of the schools selected, two intact classes of Standard VIII were selected.
Total 252 students were the participants for the study. Care was taken to see that the sample
characteristics represented the population from which it was drawn: girls and boys of the age
group 13-14 years, who came from different cultural and academic backgrounds. The first unit
Atomic Structure (AS) was taught to the participants by concept mapping strategy through
scaffolding technique for a week. The students were given training in representing their
knowledge in the form of concept maps. After completing the unit, a criterion referenced post
test on AS was administered. In the second stage, the second unit Atmospheric Pressure (AP)
was taught by the same technique for another week. After completing the unit, a criterion
referenced post test was administered to assess the conceptual clarity of AP.

Findings
The following table presents the inferential statistics and the verification of hypotheses:

Significance of difference between the means of

AS and AP posttest scores of the participants

Unit N Mean SD Table Value t Level of

value Signific
ance
.05 .01
level
252 15 7.47 1.97 2.6 3.17 Signific
Atomic
ant
Structure
(0.01
Atmospheric 252 48 17.89 level)
Pressure

From the above table, significant difference in the conceptual clarity in Unit 1 and Unit 2 is evident,
though both were learnt by concept mapping technique, which the students were not familiar with. In
Unit 1 on AS, the participants had to master the technique of concept mapping in addition to the
concepts to be understood. The post test was unique in the sense that the participants had to answer
the questions by drawing their own concept maps. The difference in the means of AS and AP may be
because of the fact that students might have taken some time to master the new technique. The
benefit of the practice of concept mapping for about 15 days could be seen in the results of Unit 2
where there is a definite, drastic improvement in the posttest scores of the participants on AP. The
findings agree with that of Sizmur, S. and Osborne, J. (1997) who found concept mapping to be
beneficial for learning.
No two concept maps were alike in the post test answers. That means that the students wrote the
answers in the form of concept maps out of their understanding and not from rote memory. If the
students could improve in their knowledge representation through concept mapping within such a
short time, the researcher feels that they may benefit substantially if concept mapping is used
regularly as a teaching as well as testing strategy.

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