Concept maps representing knowledge of physics: Connecting structure and content in the context of electricity and magnetism

Many assume that the quality of students’ content knowledge can be connected to certain structural characteristics of concept maps, such as the clustering of concepts around other concepts, cyclical paths between concepts and the hierarchical ordering of concepts. In order to study this relationship, we examine concept maps in electricity and magnetism drawn by physics teacher students and their instructors. The structural analysis of the maps is based on the operationalisation of important structural features (i.e. the features of interest are recognised and made measurable). A quantitative analysis of 43 concept maps was carried out on this basis. The results show that structure and content are closely connected; the structural features of clustering, cyclicity and hierarchy can serve as quantitative measures in characterising structural quality as well as the quality of content knowledge in concept maps. These findings have educational implications in regard to fostering the teacher student’s organisation of knowledge and in monitoring the process of such organisation