Concept Maps as an Assessment Tool

Hi fellow bloggers, I came across some literature on the use of concept maps as an assessment tool. It's a great way to trace, document and evaluate student learning and language acquisition.

According to Rice, Ryan and Samson (1998), there is a increasing tendency to replace traditional assessment with alternative assessment, such as concept maps for collecting information about student's ability and acquisition of knowledge.

Ruiz-Primo and Shavelson (1996) identify three characteristics of concept mapping assessment:

• a task that requires students to give evidence of possession of knowledge structure of a domain
• A format for student response
• a scoring system by which concept maps produced by students can be evaluated consistently and accurately.

These three measures ensure the concept map is an effective assessment tool.

Concept maps are assessed by comparing the one produced by the students to an expert map produced by the educator. This comparison allows the teacher to note what is understood and remembered by the student. Significant differences would inform what changes should be made in relation to how the material was taught to ensure that the students have a better understanding of the major concepts.