Concept Mapping Using Technology

The Concept Map shown here is an overview of the basic concepts covered in the Wetland Ecosystem Unit of the Grade 5 Science Curriculum. In this unit, students are expected to understand that Wetland Ecosystems are composed of both living and non-living components and that these interact with each other in order to create an ecosystem. This concept map would be a great tool to use from the beginning of the unit as an introduction, to the end of the unit as a summary. When introducing the unit, a concept map could be created collaboratively among the students and teachers. The teacher is able to introduce the topic of Wetlands, find out how much students already know about wetland ecosystems, and also ensure they understand the difference between living and non-living organisms. As the unit progresses, the students can return to this concept map, review the items, make additions, and also create links between the non-living and the living items to show an understanding of the interactions required to make an ecosystem work.

Ideally, the concept would be made in class, with active participation from each student. Afterwards, each student would then be able to work individually to personalize the concept map using the Inspiration software. This would allow them to apply their own creative interpretation of the concepts learned and also become familiar with the software. In addition, the use of Inspiration Software ties the science curriculum in with the ICT program of studies. In particular, students are fulfilling an outcome from each of the three strands of the ICT curriculum for Division 2.

a) Communicating, Inquiring, Decision Making and Problem Solving: By using organizational processes and tools to manage inquiry (C4); but, more specifically, they are organizing information using electronic webbing (C4.2.2). In addition, by creating the initial concept map as a whole class, the students are also using technology to aid collaboration during inquiry (C5) by recording group brainstorming, planning and sharing of ideas using technology (C5.2.2.).
b) Foundational Operations, Knowledge, and Concepts: Students are able to demonstrate an understanding of the nature of technology in a new area (F1). In particular, they are identifying and applying tools to communicate, store organize, and retrieve information (F1.2.2). Not only do they create the concept map, but they also have to be able to save the file, retrieve the file for editing, and finally create a picture file for the object (jpeg or gif) when the map is complete.
c)Processes for Productivity: The concept map is yet another way for the students to understand how to organize and manipulate data/information (P2). This is done using a tool specifically designed to organize the data, in this case it is Inspiration software (P2.2.1). In addition, if they incorporate the concept map into a word document or any other location (P4.2.1), they are learning to integrate various technological applications (P4).