Utilizing Concept Maps for Illustrating the Application of Interactions on the Fly in Science Teaching

• In Event: Science Teaching and Learning: Assessment in Science Education

Abstract

This paper reports on an empirical, classroom-based study focusing on teacher’s efforts to draw on the interactions on the fly that unfold in classroom dialogue as a means of formative assessment, during science teaching. The discussions were videotaped and analyzed using concept maps that illustrate the connections between the various concepts that arise during the discussions, the depth and coherence at which these where elaborated and whether there have been critical concepts for students’ understanding of the scientific phenomenon under discussion that had been ignored or left out of the discussion. Concept-mapping could serve a productive role in the area of discourse analysis by providing rich information in relation to the conceptual completeness, depth and coherence of the classroom dialogue.

Authors

• Michalis Livitziis, Cyprus Ministry of education

• Constantinos Constantinou, University of Cyprus