CONCEPT MAPS IN THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Concept mapping has been identified as an effective method that promotes critical thinking in students. The study was conducted to investigative the effectiveness of concept maps as formative assessment tool in Biology at secondary level. The main objective of the study was to investigate how effective concept maps are as an effective formative assessment tool in teaching and learning of concepts in Biology at secondary level. To guide the proposed study a null hypothesis was designed with an alternative hypothesis and tested at level of significance0.05. The research design opt to conduct the study was one group pre-test post-test quasi-experimental design. To complete the study seven weeks was utilized. The sample for this study consisted of students (n=46) of a private girl’s school in Karimabad District Hunza. Data for this study was collected by conducting Bioenergetics Diagnostic Test at each interval with and without intervention. The major findings of the study include; concept maps are important for developing clear understanding of concepts in Biology, concept maps refrains rote learning thus promotes critical thinking and reasoning ability and acts as an effective classroom instructional tool along with formative assessment tool. It was concluded that the concepts maps can be used as an effective formative assessment tool in Biology at secondary level.

Background: Concept Maps (CMs) have been used in a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) setting as complementary tools to current educational techniques for enhancing medical student knowledge and critical thinking. We conducted a pilot study that used CMs in a PBL-setting to introduce a measure from the field of graph theory and investigate its usefulness as a means of CM quantitative quality assessment. Methods: Participants were first-year medical students with no or minor prior CM experience. All participants completed questionnaires (demographic information and assessment of learning style) to establish a baseline measure against which the change in clinical and critical thinking was assessed. They were asked to prepare CMs for three PBL cases, and following the submission of the CMs they completed semi-structured critical and clinical thinking questionnaires. A clinical expert also created corresponding “benchmark” CMs for comparison. Qualitative (Wordclouds) and quantitative (graph theory) analysis provided a summary of the key concepts and quantified the CM quality respectively, compared to the “benchmark” CMs. Results: It was found that graph-theoretical measures (graph density, modularity) were suitable for distinguishing between CMs that captured more in-depth knowledge, compared to CMs that contained simpler associations. Questionnaires also revealed that CMs helped students recall information, organize material in a concise manner, prepare better for their PBL session and provided a good revision tool. Conclusions: We have shown that a graph-theoretical approach to quantitative CM assessment is feasible using measures such as graph density and modularity.

This quantitative study examines the influence of innovative pedagogical approaches (IPA) on enhancing student critical thinking (SCT) and student learning outcomes (SLO) in higher education, with an emphasis on the mediating role of inclusive leadership(IL). Using a sample of 321 students from public and private universities in Pakistan, the research reveals that methods such as problem-based learning, flipped classrooms, and interactive teaching significantly boost academic performance and cultivate critical thinking skills. The findings indicate that innovative pedagogical approaches positively and significantly impact student critical thinking (β = 0.536, t = 6.539, p < 0.001) and learning outcomes (β = 0.551, t = 12.725, p < 0.001). Additionally, inclusive leadership mediates the relationship between innovative teaching methods and both student critical thinking (β = 0.331, t = 3.833, p < 0.001) and learning outcomes (β = 0.405, t = 8.662, p < 0.001). Data were collected using survey questionnaires adapted from established studies on inclusive leadership, innovative pedagogical approaches, student critical thinking, and learning outcomes. These results highlight the essential role of inclusive leadership in enhancing the efficacy of innovative pedagogies by creating a supportive and diverse learning environment. The study suggests that implementing active learning strategies and integrating technology in the classroom, along with inclusive leadership practices, can significantly improve student engagement, critical thinking, and overall academic performance. This research offers valuable insights for educators and policymakers seeking to enhance teaching and learning experiences in higher education.

A need analysis in this research were carried out to determine the use of teaching methods and materials in science learning used by teachers, difficulties in science teaching and learning activities and to measure critical thinking skills and environmental awareness of students in Balerejo District Junior High School. The method used in this research is quantitative by collecting, processing and concluding based on a survey using a questionnaire. The research subjects were science teachers and seventh grade students of SMPN 1 Balerejo, SMPN 2 Balerejo and SMPS Wisma-Wisnu located in the Balerejo sub-district with a total of 60 students in each school. Based on survey the teachers using handbook and worksheet with lecture method. Teaching difficulties experienced by teachers in the lack of appropriate media facilities and the ability to develop teaching materials in accordance with appropriate learning methods. Based on the test of critical thinking skills at the observation stage through HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skill) questions regarding environmental problems, it was found that about 80% did not understand the impact of environmental damage and had not maximally found real solutions that were useful for the surrounding environment in accordance with current developments and technology. Based on a need analysis, the environmental awareness of students in the Balerejo District Junior High School showed that 70% were not used to throwing garbage in its place, 85% did not know the benefits of planting trees around the riverbanks in Balerejo District and almost 90% did not know the cause of flooding in Balerejo District in 2019 ago. Empowerment of critical thinking can be done by teachers with learning that has the potential to empower critical thinking skills, such as using the SETS-Edutainment approach. SETS-Edutainment provides Science, Environment, Technology and Society-oriented learning that combines science with environmentally friendly technology and is expected to provide benefits to the community or the surrounding environment.

The purpose of this study was to identify the components of critical thinking education model based on the Vygotsky’s constructivist theory and to study the effectiveness of the model on the critical thinking of the fifth grade elementary students. The method of this study wascombined studies (qualitative and quantitative). The statistical population in the qualitative section included all relevant articles indexed in databases of science direct, PubMed, cinahl, and Scopus. From this population, 34 articles were selected using purposeful sampling and for validate the pattern were selected 32 relevant experts by purposeful snowball sampling. The statistical population of quantitative part consisted all 5th grade elementary school students in the academic year of 2017-2018 in Tehran. From this population, 66 people were selected using a cluster sampling method and randomly assigned two experimental and control groups. Data collection tools included researcher-made questionnaire and the Watson-Glaser critical thinking appraisal (1998). To analyze the qualitative section data was used content analysis, for patternvalidation using the confirmatory factor analysis and effectiveness section was performed using covariance analysis. The findings showed that the critical thinking model were classified according to Vygotsky’s theory in three classes: teacher role, learner's role and the role of knowledge. The results showed that fitting the critical thinking model was optimal according to experts and critical thinking pattern led to a significant difference between groups in critical thinking by 53%. According to the results, applying Critical Thinking Model based on Vygotsky's theory is effective on critical thinking of students.

Critical thinking ability is an important part of educational goals. It has higher complex processes, such as analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating, drawing conclusion and reflection. This study is aimed to know the critical thinking ability of students in learning static fluids of senior high school students. This research uses the descriptive method which its instruments based on the indicator of critical thinking ability developed according to Ennis. The population of this research is XIth grade science class Public Senior High School, SMA N 1, Sambungmacan, Sragen, Central Java. The static fluid teaching material is delivered using Problem Based Learning Model through class experiment. The results of this study shows that the average student of XIth science class have high critical thinking skills, particularly in the ability of providing simple explanation, build basic skill, and provide advanced explanation, but they do not have high enough in ability of drawing conclusion and strategic and tactical components of critical thinking ability in the study of static fluid teaching material. The average of students critical thinking ability is 72.94, with 27,94% of students are in a low category and 72,22% of students in the high category of critical thinking ability.

Teachers normally use response papers to enhance critical thinking in students. This study presents a response paper that enhances critical thinking, creative thinking, and experiential learning in students. The study also presents the results of a survey that investigated the differences between the response paper and traditional research papers. The results confirmed that response papers differ from traditional research papers and that writing them contributed highly to students' learning experiences.

This research is motivated by PISA result which shows that students' critical thinking ability in Indonesia is still low. This is in line with the results of observations in the field of researchers who showed that students in Indonesia, especially in District Katapang on average not ready in solving problems that require high-order thinking skills. Therefore, an effort is needed to improve the ability to think critically, one of them is by using ARIAS based learning model of scientific approach. The ARIAS-based learning model of a scientific approach is a collaboration between the ARIAS learning model and the scientific approach that requires students to play an active role and to think in a high level of learning. This study aims to determine: 1) differences in critical thinking skills before and after applied ARIAS learning model based on scientific approaches; 2) differences in students' critical thinking skills before and after using conventional learning models; 3) differences in students' critical thinking skills between those treated using the ARIAS-based learning model based on the scientific approach and the conventional learning model. The research method used is quasi experiment with design type nonequivalent control Group Design which use two groups that is experiment group and control group. The population in this study were all students of grade V SD Negeri Sukamukti 02, while the sample in the study were VA class students and VB Elementary School students Sukamukti 02 District Katapang District Bandunng District. The data analysis technique used is the data analysis using the software SPSS version 17.0 for windows. Based on the results of data analysis can be concluded that there is a significant difference between the application of ARIAS learning model based on scientific approach with conventional learning model, it is proved by the test result of pre-test post-test experiment class showed significance level of 0.040 with the difference of 12 , 50 while the pre-test result of post-test of the control class showed a significance level of 0.039 with an average difference of 6.83. Thus it can be concluded that ARIAS learning model based on scientific approach can be used by teachers as an alternative to improve students' critical thinking ability.

Background: Medical student education is challenging, and concept maps (CMs) can help students link new and existing knowledge, promote critical thinking and identify knowledge gaps.Aims: To study the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of CMs in problem-based learning (PBL) tutorials.Method: Students and tutors were randomized to tutorials that used or did not use CMs. A mixed-methods approach generated qualitative and quantitative results of participants’ perspectives on and the effects of CMs in PBL tutorials.Results: Student survey response rate was 71% (122/172). Most students (82.6%) planned to use CMs in the future at least occasionally, and students in CM tutorials endorsed increased likelihood of using CMs in the future (p = 0.02) versus students in non-CM tutorials. Qualitative analyses identified consistent associations between CMs and recurrent themes: integration of physiological mechanisms, challenging students’ knowledge of the material, and identification of knowledge gaps. Quantitative assessment of final exam scores revealed a statistically significant increase in the students’ scores in CM tutorials versus students in non-CM tutorials with an a priori α of <0.10.Conclusions: CMs are well accepted by students and faculty, feasible to incorporate into PBL tutorials, and may result in improved exam performance and student learning of physiologic concepts.

Vi sualization support is a conceptual framework.Based on the graphic way, it can intuitively and structurally present the relationship of different knowledge.At present, the visual teaching tools have been widely used in various fields.It also played an important role in English teaching.Hoping to apply this knowledge visualization teaching tools into daily English teaching can let us produce unexpected results.

This study aims to identify the relationship between students' learning style practice and critical thinking.At the same time, the study also explored the dimensions of learning style practice that are predictors of students' critical thinking in learning.A quantitative approach using the questionnaire conducted on 431 participants consisting of Form Six College students throughout Malaysia.They were selected using strata random sampling.The instrument for learning style practice was adapted from Dunn and Dunn (1978), while critical thinking adapted from Critical Thinking in Everyday Life presented by Mincemoyer, Perkins, & Munyua (2001).The results show that there is a moderate and significant relationship between learning style practices and critical thinking of students.The analysis also indicates that dimensions such as emotional, physical, psychological and environmental are vital contributors to the critical thinking of students at Form Six College throughout Malaysia.Through this study, it hoped that it would provide useful input for educators to understand students' learning style practices and critical thinking to improve the quality of the teaching and learning process.The method of student learning styles is crucial to develop high-impact essential skills of thinking in line with 21 st century learning concepts.

BackgroundIn scientific inquiry learning, students often have difficulties conducting hypothetical reasoning with multiple intertwined variables. Concept maps have a potential to facilitate complex thinking and reasoning. However, there is little investigation into the content of student‐constructed concept maps and its association with inquiry task performance.ObjectivesThis study explored students' concept mapping style and its association with task performance in computer‐based inquiry learning.MethodsAn exploratory study was conducted with 80 Grade 11 students, who collaboratively constructed concept maps in a free style to support inquiry learning with a virtual ecosystem. Student‐constructed concept maps was analysed by firstly identifying different types of propositions formed in the maps and then determining the style of each concept map based on the dominant type of propositions in the map. Finally, the association between the concept map style and inquiry task performance was explored.Results and ConclusionsTwo major concept map styles were identified: (1) knowledge‐oriented concept maps (KCMs) mainly representing problem‐related subject knowledge as a set of concepts and their relationships, and (2) problem‐oriented concept maps (PCMs) mainly representing problem situation as a sequence of changes and their causal relationships. Compared with those constructing KCMs, the students constructing PCMs formed higher‐quality propositions in their maps and performed better in hypothesising, reasoning, and drawing conclusions in the inquiry task.ImplicationsBesides KCMs, students in inquiry learning can be encouraged to construct PCMs to foster effective thinking and reasoning; that is, constructing a concept map to represent the problem situation as a sequence of changes and the causal relationships between the changes.

This study used the Relevance of Science Education (ROSE) survey (Sjoberg & Schreiner, 2004) to examine topics of interest and perspectives of secondary science students in a large school district in the southwestern U.S. A situated learning perspective was used to frame the project. The research questions of this study focused on (a) perceptions students have about themselves and their science classroom and how these beliefs may influence their participation in the community of practice of science; (b) consideration of how a future science classroom where the curriculum is framed by the Next Generation Science Standards might foster students' beliefs and perceptions about science education and their legitimate peripheral participation in the community of practice of science; and (c) reflecting on their school science interests and perspectives, what can be inferred about students' identities as future scientists or STEM field professionals? Data were collected from 515 second year science students during a 4-week period in May of 2012 using a Web-based survey. Data were disaggregated by gender and ethnicity and analyzed descriptively and by statistical comparison between groups. Findings for Research Question 1 indicated that boys and girls showed statistically significant differences in scientific topics of interest. There were no statistical differences between ethnic groups although. For Research Question 2, it was determined that participants reported an increase in their interest when they deemed the context of the content to be personally relevant. Results for Research Question 3 showed that participants do not see themselves as youthful scientists or as becoming scientists. While participants value the importance of science in their lives and think all students should take science, they do not aspire to careers in science. Based on this study, a need for potential future work has been identified in three areas: (a) exploration of the perspectives and interests of non-mainstream students and urban students whose representation in this study was limited; (b) investigation of topics where students expressed low interests topics; and (c) development and design of authentic communities of practice in the science classroom.

The aim of this study was to track students’ critical thinking performance longitudinally through concept map analysis in a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum. Concept map analysis has been employed in the assessment of students’ critical thinking in medical education. Little is known concerning concept mapping (CM) in speech-language pathology (SLP) education. In this quantitative study, students in a 4-year SLP education program (N = 38) were followed until the completion of a fully-integrated PBL curriculum from Years 1 to 3. Students’ concept maps were analyzed using a tool developed for this study, the Concept Map Assessment Profile (CMAP). There was an increase in concept map scores across the 3 years at the beginning of the academic year. The CM performance over the 3 years predicted 21.0% to 33.6% of variance in three measures of learning outcomes. The CMAP is a reliable measure, with strong inter-rater and intra-rater reliability (r = 0.85 and r = 0.96, respectively). In addition to its use as an assessment tool, the CMAP might be used to facilitate students’ learning as feedback concerning strengths and weaknesses in the development of critical thinking can be provided.

Improving the quality of education in Indonesia continues to be pursued and developed along with the times. Basic education is the first stage explored by students and is the initial key for students in the stage of developing knowledge skills. Formulation of research problems How is Teacher Planning for Students' Critical Thinking in Social Studies Learning through the Problem Basic Learning Learning Model for Grade V Students at SD Inpres 8 Mamboro, How is Teacher Implementation of Students' Critical Thinking in Social Studies Learning through the Problem Basic Learning (PBL) Learning Model for Grade V Students at SD Inpres 8 Mamboro, How is Teacher Evaluation of Students' Critical Thinking in Social Studies Learning through the Problem Basic Learning (PBL) Learning Model for Grade V Students at SD Inpres 8 Mamboro, Research objectives To find out how Teacher Evaluation of Students' Critical Thinking in Social Studies Learning through the Problem Basic Learning Learning Model for Grade V Students at SD Inpres 8 Mamboro. Research methods Qualitative research is an approach to conducting research that is oriented towards natural phenomena or symptoms. Qualitative research is fundamental and naturalistic or natural in nature, and cannot be done in the laboratory, but in the field. Research Results In compiling teaching modules, teachers determine what aspects can support students in learning. The existence of planning like this makes it easy for teachers to implement according to the pattern that has been made and teachers also have guidelines in the learning process that will be carried out. So that it can direct students to think critically through teaching modules based on the problem basic learning model according to the planning that has been prepared. Conclusions in the study Realizing meaningful learning by making students think critically requires good planning. Good planning is the first step to success in learning before entering the learning implementation stage.