REFLECTIONS ON USING CONCEPT MAPS IN TEACHING MATHEMATICS

Abstract. The construction of concept maps in mathematics courses provides students with a rich learning experience and yields substantial insights into the degree of connectedness of their knowledge with respect to given topics. While students are given the opportunity to express their knowledge in a manner that makes sense to them, an analysis of the concept maps provides the teacher with valuable information with respect to individual and whole-class misconceptions and to the effectiveness of instruction. This paper presents a brief overview of how concept maps can be used in a variety of mathematics courses and reflections on their use in a geometry course as a means of categorizing students ’ geometric concept development in terms of the van Hiele levels.