Shedletsky, L. & Beaudry, S. J
Shedletsky, L. & Beaudry, S. J.
A review of research on classroom and online discussion as well as essay writing shows evidence of extremely low amounts of critical thinking. Moreover, it is not at all clear what teachers can do to bring about increased critical thinking. Most scholarly attempts to increase critical thinking are bumping into a dead end. Researchers find that many students are only minimally improving their skills in critical thinking in college. In response to this need to improve critical thinking, we compiled case studies[i] provided by teachers world-wide on just how they were using various forms of visual representation—often referred to as mapping-- to increase critical thinking.
These case studies demonstrate that teachers using mapping techniques of various kinds,in far-flung parts of the globe, with a variety of technologies, at various grade levels from third grade to medical school, with various assignments and levels of difficulty find that mapping aids thought and writing. Mapping facilitates critical thinking.
Visual representations like concept maps, mind maps and argument maps are used as displays of understanding, and, most importantly, as a medium for productive collaboration. Here are few examples:
The Nature of Third Grade Student Experiences with Concept Maps to Support Learning of Science Concepts (Merrill)
The paper by Merrill provides an in-depth view of teaching and learning in a third grade science classroom with concept maps. Concept mapping was introduced as a strategy to increase students’ understanding of watersheds, and students were asked to use the iPad app, InspireMaps, to do their mapping. Merrill used a modified version of the Hay and Kinchin assessment tool to score the concept maps, and conducted interviews with a sample of students throughout the unit.
Can Mapping Improve the Quality of Critical Thinking in Essay Writing in an Introductory Level, Core Curriculum Class? (Shedletsky)
This study began with the question: Can mapping improve the quality of critical thinking in essay writing in an introductory level, core curriculum class? Two sections of the course, Introduction to Communication, were compared, without mapping and with mapping. Dependent measures were: (1) the word count for summarizing the critical incident to be analyzed; (2) the number of concepts/theories employed to analyze the critical incident; (3) the number of times a connection was made between the analytical concepts/theories and the critical incident; (4) the number of words used in summarizing the essay as a whole; and (5) the total number of words in the essay. In addition, the data were analyzed for practice since there were three attempts at essay writing.
A Case on Teaching Critical Thinking and Argument Mapping in a Teacher Education Context (Oral)
This chapter is based on the classroom work of a course on critical thinking designed as part of a pre-service teacher education program in English language teaching at a large-size Turkish state university. With its dual focus on both modernist and postmodern approaches to critical thinking, the course offers scope for class work that concentrate on the skills to identify the parts and structure of arguments. To this end, argument mapping has been utilized to enhance understanding of the components of arguments and to facilitate the analysis of arguments.
Teaching Critical Thinking to First-Year Medical Students through Visual Representation Strategies (Sadik)
Sadik examined the use of concept mapping to improve knowledge of medical biochemistry and support a shift in curriculum from traditional lectures to clinical case-based problem solving. Clinical cases required clear objectives and outcomes, guiding questions for the case. In this approach students used critical thinking for the construction of concept maps, and over a semester students and faculty co-constructed nine concept maps, in a series of small group discussions. The primary purpose for concept maps was formative assessment, although a rubric was used for scoring concept maps.
Concept maps as replacements of written essays in efficient assessment of complex medical knowledge (Gomez, Griffiths, and Navathe)
In the paper by Gomez, Griffiths and Navathe concept mapping is examined as a key strategy for more efficient assessment of medical knowledge in a distance aviation medicine course. This case study examines the teacher-student interactions around concept maps in an online course setting. The authors conclude that concept maps could be could be suitable replacements of written essays in the assessment of complex medical conceptual knowledge because the efficiency and time-saving of concept maps; they are faster to read and grade, and can quickly reveal student understanding.
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[i] Shedletsky, L. and Beaudry, S. J. (Eds.). (2014). Cases on teaching critical thinking through visual representation strategies. Hershey, PA: IGI-Global.