Guiding questions for the Concept Map/WebBib reflection

1. Compare your final concept map with the one that you started at the beginning of the semester. Do you see differences in the: number of concepts? arrangement of concepts? connecting phrases? any other aspect of the map? I see a drastic change in my concept map from the concepts, arrangements, phrases and overall understanding of my topic. Initially, I was clueless about electricity and was disappointed in my map. Everything I knew or thought I knew was sprawled across the page with no real connection or that of a false one. With research though, I was able to better connect concepts, develop more and establish phases that would bring the whole picture together. I feel that the concept map is a perfect model of the effects teachers have on their students in that they come in with prior knowledge that is either correct or incorrect. Our job is to be the research and inform students of broader concepts and connections from idea to idea. The students job is to then add in the phrasing through experiments and inquiry based projects as well as to formulate concepts and connections of their own. Concept mapping has been an insightful activity that has changed the way I view electricity and learning. 2. Do you think that the concept mapping activities we did in class this semester were useful to your development as a teacher? Why or why not? I think that the concept mapping was useful in learning more about the content and how all of the parts of my scientific field worked together. However, I would not say that it was useful in my development as a teacher. The concept mapping would not inform me one way or the other as to which concept to instruct first or those to teach next and so on. I did not see it as a continuum of learning as a whole, but rather just big idea by big idea. I feel that concept maps would be more effective for the students to construct throughout the unit so that they can better develop understanding of the whole picture and record what they know and learned, similar to that of a KWL. Overall, I did not find the concept mapping effective in my planning and preparations as a teacher because I failed to see how I would use it to teach my content specifically. 3. Do you foresee using concept mapping as a teaching or learning tool in the future? I see concept mapping as a very useful teaching and learning tool. As mentioned before, I can see it functioning as a KWL where students record what they know and have learned and use the structure of the map to discover for themselves how these ideas work together to create such a phenomenon. I also see this as a great opportunity to explore a scientific topic individually and use this map in their understanding. I might use this as a format to a project so as to assess students understanding of the connection between scientific

phenomenon and what they merely observed. 4. What did you find to be the most difficult aspect of concept mapping? What made it difficult? The most difficult aspect of the concept mapping I found was connecting some ideas and making sure I included as many concepts as possible. As a perfectionist, it became a challenge in my final revision to add concepts because I had already done extensive research and could not think of many other ideas to add that I did not already have. I feel that because I had so much, it also made it difficult to organize my map and not overlap or repeat and concepts. Finally, I was unsure of some of the terminology I used in my map, but finding the correct phase was difficult without explaining the phenomenon in a whole paragraph. So again, I had problems keeping it conscience and focused due to my perfectionism and strive to cover every aspect of my topic. 5. Do you feel that researching science entries for your WebBib assignment contributed in any way to changes in your concept map? I do feel that my WebBib entries were helpful in creating and revising my concept map. In search of information to add to my map, I stumbled upon some very informative and interesting websites that later became my WebBibs. The more sites I found, the more that was added to my map and the more entries and resources I had to turn into WebBibs. 6. Do you foresee using the WebBib database as a resource for your teaching in the future? If so, please describe how you think the WebBib database might be useful to you. I see the WebBib database as an excellent resource for my future teaching. I know the websites are peer recommended and reviewed; therefore, I trust the sites contents and know that it is student friendly. Also, the summaries are helpful for teachers looking for plans or ideas in a hurry. Instead of having to go through multiple hits on Google or other search engines to find the perfect plan, with a few key words in WebBib, I could have exactly what I am looking for instantly. WebBibs will be most helpful in my search for lesson plans, science experiments, and websites for the students to explore in both social studies and science. 7. Can you suggest ways I can improve the concept mapping and/or WebBib activities we did this semester? I would suggest limiting the length of WebBibs and concept mapping. I know that I tend to write a lot, but when I go looking through WebBibs for helpful resource, I want a concise but informative paragraph about the website recommended. I see WebBibs being a site I will disregard when I find myself reading too much about the review of the resource and never actually using it. Similarly, I feel that I could have appreciated concept mapping more had I not done any research prior to the first draft. I wish I had learned along with my lesson plans and mapped accordingly from them. One way to alleviate this frustration

among us over achievers might be to have students not look to additional resources than ones they are writing for WebBibs or lesson plans. You could also limit the number and /or variety of sources students are to explore so as to not overwhelm them and their concept map.