| Research question. What impact does a pre-concept map have on the organization of ideas in writing about evolutionary processes?;Subquestions. (1) What effect does the pre-concept map have on student's attitudes towards their ability to write about scientific topics? (2) What are the differences and or similarities between low-achieving and high-achieving students' progress in short essay writing?;Research activities. This research explores the effect of making a concept map prior to writing a short response about an evolutionary process. Context. The study took place in a 9th and 10th grade college preparatory Biology class at a high school in its first year of existence. The school has a four-by-four block schedule where each class runs 90 minutes every day. The research focused on an entire class with three focus students who exemplified above average, average, and below average academic achievement. Methods and data. The intervention lasted a month and utilized concept mapping as the instructional strategy. Three evolutionary processes were discussed during this intervention and for each process a pre-write, concept map, and post-write were conducted. Observational notes were collected during the concept map. The pre- and post- writes were done individually, while the concept map was completed in mixed-ability pairs. Attitudinal surveys were conducted before and after the intervention. Results. There is a correlation between the proficiency and quality of concept maps and of student writing. Findings from the attitudinal data indicated that concept mapping only slightly improved the students' confidence in the ability to write about scientific topics. Student writing improved following the intervention as shown in the post-write proficiency data. Conclusion. The effectiveness of concept mapping depends on the rigor of the content. Concept mapping increases student confidence in the ability to write in general. There was a greater impact on low-achieving students, but concept mapping did not adversely affect high-achieving students' writing.;Grade Level. 9th and 10th grade;Data collection methods. Student work, Writing samples, Writing assessment, Survey-Attitude, Observation-Field Notes;Curriculum areas. Science-Biology, Writing-in the content areas;Instructional approaches. Collaboration/Teaming, Conceptual understanding, Cooperative learning, Graphic organizers/concept maps, Multi-kinesthetic learning, Vocabulary development, Writing-Organization, Writing-Prompts, Writing-Summary... |
