Trainee physics teachers respond well to concept-mapping, but may still find other types of training more useful.
This was the conclusion of Strathclyde University research in which the students were asked to consider the technique as a vehicle for teaching electricity.
Researcher Morag Findlay said the students were “deeply engaged” by the task. They found making the links between ideas to be “challenging and worthwhile”, and were willing to try concept-mapping with pupils.
But they did not find it as useful as sessions that concentrated more on developing their own teaching techniques.
Concept-mapping involves the use of a network of symbols to show the links between ideas, and was inspired by the constructivist theory of meaningful learning. It is seen as fitting well with A Curriculum for Excellence and Assessment is for Learning.
