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Environmental connections and concept mapping: implementing a new learning technology at Lewis & Clark College

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Abstract

What is environment? The answer to this question is fundamental to how we teach environmental studies and sciences (ESS). We follow recent scholarly literature in approaching environment as connection, not as some category of reality, and consider pedagogical implications via concept mapping, a new learning technology. Concept maps potentially offer a visually explicit means of representing and analyzing the hybrid connections between actors that define environmental issues. We explore the utility of concept mapping as pioneered by Joseph Novak and others via the Cmap Tools application, in which concept maps (cmaps) consist of concepts connected by propositions; both can include linked resources, and the resultant cmap can be collaboratively edited and shared online. We evaluate concept mapping in the context of a sophomore-level environmental methods course taught annually at Lewis & Clark College. The course includes adaptations of concept mapping drawing on Novak’s work and actor-network theory, designed for students to reflect on their environmental perspectives, synthesize course material, and explore a proposed topic for environmental research. These exercises were evaluated in fall 2010 using self-reports, assessment rubrics, and open-ended student responses. Results showed that higher achieving students generally found concept mapping more demanding and attained more sophisticated understandings of connections. This suggests that concept mapping helps facilitate the intellectual struggle that characterizes engaged learning, yet also that not all students embrace this struggle to fully grasp environment-as-connection. In a larger sense, the study illustrates challenges in cultivating new approaches to environment in the ESS community.

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Notes

  1. See, e.g., noimpactproject.org.

  2. See www.iseesystems.com.

  3. See for instance www.mindmeister.com, www.mindnode.com, www.mindomo.com, and www.thinkbuzan.com.

  4. See www.thinkbuzan.com.

  5. See www.mind-mapping.org/blog/mapping-history/roots-of-visual-mapping for one informative history.

  6. For a listing of publications related to concept mapping, see cmap.ihmc.us/Publications/ReferenceList.php.

  7. As one estimate, the Cmap Tools server network includes over 150 servers distributed across the globe; see cmapdp.ihmc.us/servlet/HtmlViewServlet?viewhtml.

  8. The hierarchical nature of Novak-inspired concept maps also seems to be interpreted differently by those who have applied this approach in a variety of practical settings (see Moon et al. 2011b).

  9. See cmap.ihmc.us.

  10. See sge.lclark.edu/social-learning-tools/#Concept_Mapping.

  11. For sample concept maps produced during this fall 2010 course, see bit.ly/cmc2012talk.

  12. See sge.lclark.edu/sites-overview.

  13. Taken from www.vark-learn.com/documents/TheVARKQuestionnaire.pdf.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge support from The Andrew Mellon Foundation to Lewis & Clark College (2006–) for development of new interdisciplinary learning approaches and tools in environmental studies. We also acknowledge the Masters of Science in Science Education program at Montana State University, Bozeman, for which the assessment and evaluation component of this research was integrated into Jennifer Bernstein’s capstone project. A draft of this paper was presented at the Fifth International Conference on Concept Mapping, Malta, September 2012.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Studies Program, Lewis & Clark College, 0615 SW Palatine Hill Road, Portland, OR, 97219, USA

    James D. Proctor

  2. Department of Geography, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 445 Saunders Hall, 2424 Maile Way, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Jennifer Bernstein

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  1. James D. Proctor
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  2. Jennifer Bernstein
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Correspondence to James D. Proctor.

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Proctor, J.D., Bernstein, J. Environmental connections and concept mapping: implementing a new learning technology at Lewis & Clark College. J Environ Stud Sci 3, 30–41 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-013-0109-0

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