Concept maps and processes of comprehension, explicating cognition and metacognition, structural knowledge and procedural knowledge

grantor: University of TorontoConcept maps are said to represent mental models of problems that form in working memory. Integration of theories of cognition indicates that the structural and procedural knowledge of concept map links are comparably complex. Integration further suggests that comparably complex cognitive and metacognitive processes govern concept mapping. This thesis develops methods to assess the structural and procedural knowledge of concept maps, as well as their cognitive and metacognitive processes. The SOLO (Structure Of the Learning Outcome) taxonomy is adapted to assess structural knowledge in concept maps. The adaptation implies that five levels of inference create structural knowledge. Descriptions of the inference levels are used to develop an assessment scale for procedural knowledge. Applying the methods to students' concept maps, shows that their structural and procedural knowledge is comparably complex. It is argued that concept map procedural knowledge and cognitive processes are the same phenomenon. Therefore, the procedural knowledge assessment scale is used to measure cognition. A set of interview questions is developed to assess metacognition. The methods indicate that students' concept maps exhibit comparably complex cognitive and metacognitive processes. Conformity between concept map properties and the predictions of theory integration is said to support the argument that concept maps represent mental models.Ph.D