 |
Causal Mapping Makes a Positive Impact on Learning
Students will think about and talk about their learning.
The power of the Seeing Reason maps is in how they encourage student teams to monitor their own learning. Students begin with a model of how something works, and then test whether they can support that model with measurements, observation, Internet research, or any of the other tools of an investigator. Any time that research doesn't support their causal map, they can change the model. The teacher can be involved throughout the process since everything the students believe and know is captured on the map. The team's progress is evident both by the evolution of their causal maps and by their interactions with the teacher.
Students will negotiate the meaning of their symbols and make their ideas public.
While it's common to describe cognitive mapping as the process of "making thinking visible," when Dr. Eric Baumgartner developed the causal mapping tool, his goal was to make thinking audible. As Baumgartner puts it, "The tool was designed to raise the level of discourse about causal relationships."
Students will translate from one form of knowledge to another.
Within Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, cause-and-effect thinking is primarily a logical-mathematical process. When students translate this logical thinking to a map, they use their spatial intelligence. When students talk about their theories and explain their evidence, they use linguistic intelligence. Finally, when they work in teams, they incorporate their personal intelligences.
Students will transfer their knowledge to other cause-and-effect situations.
Ariel Owen, a Walnut Creek, California, teacher who uses the tool in her classroom, knows that the students are "getting it" when they start using cause-and-effect language in their daily conversations. She quotes one student: "Guess what factors are causing THIS to be a good day, Ms. Owen?"
Students will gain experience in using tools for problem solving.
Researchers report that a major difference between schools and everyday settings is that students are much less likely to use tools during their school day. The maps are not only a valuable tool for organizing thinking, but they are also similar to real-world problem solving and modeling tools.
Suggested Reading
- Novak, J. D. & Gowin, D. B. "Concept Mapping for Negotiating Meaning," in Learning How to Learn. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1984 (15-54).
- Anderson-Inman, L. & Horney, M. "Computer-Based Concept Mapping: Enhancing Literacy With Tools for Visual Thinking." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 40(1997): 4.
- Gopnik, A.. "Causal Maps and Bayes Nets: A Cognitive and Computational Account of Theory-Formation." Paper presented at the International Congress on Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, Cracow, Poland, August 1999. http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~jbt/224/Gopnik_1.html*
- Zeitz, L. & Anderson-Inman, L. "The Effects of Computer-Based Formative Concept Mapping on Learning High School Science." Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Atlanta, Georgia, 1993.
- Ditson, L.A., Kessler, R., Anderson-Inman, L. & Mafit, D. Concept Mapping Companion, Second Edition. Eugene, OR: ISTE, 2001.
- Gardner, H. Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice. New York: Basic Books, 1993.
< Return to Overview
|