Using Concept Maps to enhance students’ socioscientific reasoning

science education, educational psychology

Socioscientific issues – such as the issue of climate change – are typical examples for complex real-world scenarios that cannot be solved by referring solely to scientific knowledge. Rather, they involve various societal aspects and have to be resolved through the integration of multiple perspectives. In addition, socioscientific issues are characterized by conflicting as well as fragile (scientific) evidence.

The aim of this project is to enhance secondary school students’ socioscientific reasoning and decision making while working on typical socioscientific issues. In more detail, we aim to develop teaching interventions that may be used not only for science education but also contribute to education for sustainable development and to evaluate their effects.

Specifically, we developed a computer-based learning environment to support students’ learning about climate change and possible solutions to climate change. While working with the learning environment, students will be provided with a computer based concept mapping tool to support them in their learning as well as reasoning and argumentation processes.

In a quasi-experimental study (N=160), which used a 2×2 factorial design, we investigated the effect of four different concept mapping support measures (varying the provision of concepts and relations) on student achievement. The analysis consisted of evaluating the quality of students’ concept maps as well as their learning outcomes on conceptual knowledge as well as socioscientific reasoning and decision making.

Results indicate that students who worked with provided “concepts” on the issue of climate change outperformed all other students with respect to the quality of their concept maps. In contrast to this finding, providing students with “argumentative relations” enhanced students’ visualisation of pro and contra-arguments and fostered the generation of high quality argumentative concept maps. Interestingly, students who used the basic concept mapping tool without any additional support generated concept maps of a similar high quality, while students who studied with highly structured support measures developed qualitatively weaker concept maps and were actually disrupted in their learning and argumentation processes. On the basis of these results, the computer-based learning environment had been optimized and is momentarily being used in another quasi-experimental study in science classrooms (N=250). Data analysis is under way.

Publications:

Eggert, S., Nitsch, A., Boone, W. J., Nückles, M. & Bögeholz, S. (2016). Supporting Students´ Learning and Socioscientific Reasoning About Climate Change. The Effect of Computer-Based Concept Mapping Scaffolds. Research in Science Education. DOI 10.1007/s11165-015-9493-7; Online First.

Conference Contributions:

Eggert, S., Nitsch, A., Nückles, M. & Bögeholz, S. (2015). Concept Mapping als Lernstrategie im Umgang mit Socioscientific Issues. Das Beispiel Klimawandel. In K. Kremer & S. Sprenger (Leitung), Nachhaltigkeit vermitteln. Vortrag für Symposium auf der 20. Internationalen Tagung der Fachsektion Didaktik der Biologie (FDdB) im VBIO: Bildung durch Biologie, 14.-17.09., Universität Hamburg.

Eggert, S., Nitsch, A., Bögeholz, S. & Nückles, M. (2014). Using concept maps to foster students’ understanding and socioscientific reasoning about climate change. Poster presented at the 10th Conference of European Researchers in Didactics of Biology (ERIDOB), June 30th – July 4th, Technion University Haifa, Israel.

Eggert, S., Nitsch, A., Nückles, M. & Bögeholz, S. (2013). Förderung von Schülerkompetenzen im Umgang mit fragiler und konfligierender Evidenz am Beispiel Klimawandel – Der Einfluss verschiedener Concept Mapping Vorstrukturierungen. In J. Bauer, M. Prenzel & K. Berthold (Leitung), Kompetenzen zur Bewertung und argumentativen Nutzung von Evidenz. Symposium auf 1. Tagung der Gesellschaft für Empirische Bildungsforschung (GEPF) vom 11.-13. März 2013, Kiel.

Nitsch, A., Eggert, S. & Bögeholz, S. (2013). Förderung von Schülerkompetenzen im Umgang mit Socioscientific Issues. Der Einfluss verschiedener Concept Mapping Techniken. Vortrag auf der Internationalen Tagung der Fachsektion Didaktik der Biologie (FDdB) im VBIO: Didaktik der Biologie, 16. – 20. September, Universität Kassel.

Nitsch, A., Eggert, S., Bögeholz, S. & Nückles, M. (2013). How do students reconstruct the issue of global climate change – The influence of different concept mapping support measures. In K. Berthold & A. Deiglmayer (Leitung), How to deal with fragile and conflicting evidence in school. Vortrag für Symposium auf der 15th Biennial EARLI Conference for Research on Learning and Instruction, 27-31. August 2013, München.

Applicant 1
Dr. Sabina Eggert
Didaktik der Biologie
Waldweg 26
37073 Göttingen
Tel.: +49 551 3914014
seggert1@gwdg.de
website
Research Interest:
Socioscientific reasoning and decision-making
Argumentation
Education for sustainable development

Applicant 2
Prof. Dr. Susanne Bögeholz
Didaktik der Biologie
Waldweg 26
37073 Göttingen
Tel.: +49 551 399314
sboegeh@gwdg.de
website
Research Interest:
Socioscientific reasoning and decision-making
Argumentation
Education for sustainable development

Applicant 3
Prof. Dr. Matthias Nückles
Institut für Erziehungswissenschaft
Abteilung Empirische Unterrichts- und Schulforschung
Rempartstr. 11
79098 Freiburg
Tel.: +49 761 2032449
matthias.nueckles@ezw.uni-freiburg.de
website
Research Interest:
Learning protocols
Tutoring
Concept mapping

Staff 1
Anne Nitsch
Didaktik der Biologie
Waldweg 26
37073 Göttingen
Tel.: +49 551 3914014
anitsch@gwdg.de
website
Research Interest:
Socioscientific reasoning and decision-making
Argumentation
Education for sustainable development

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