Teaching Methods in Computer Science Education - Guide to Teaching Computer Science: An Activity-Based Approach - page 114

It shows, for example, that the MTCS course addresses research in computer sci-
ence education that examines teaching methods and that teaching methods may
apply active-based learning; it also reflects the fact that the theme of evaluation is
addressed in the course with respect to the assessment of learners' conception. In
this spirit, throughout this guide, we try to reflect these connections by mentioning
cross-references to different chapters.
Since, as is illustrated in Fig. 7.2 , concept complexity is reflected in its concept
map, in most cases, a concept map is constructed gradually: first, core concepts
related to the said topic are identified and located on the map, and then, relations
between these concepts are identified, named, and located. Following the creation
of the first version of the concept map, learners can update/change the map, either
by reshaping its form or by adding/removing specific concepts and/or relationships.
When examined from a constructivist perspective (see Chap. 2), it is clear to re-
alize the potential contribution of the construction process of concept maps to learn-
ers' understanding of the concept for which the map is constructed. While building
a concept map, learners work with concepts and relationships between them, ma-
nipulating them both mentally (in their mind) and physically (in the map); thus, in
parallel to the gradual actual construction process of the map, they construct their
mental image of the topic represented by the map. For additional details about the
theory underlying concept maps and how to construct and use them, see Novak and
Ca￱as ( 2008 ).
Concept maps can be used for different pedagogical purposes, such as a summa-
ry of a topic after its main concepts were taught, identification of learners' alterna-
tive conceptions (see Chap. 6), and evaluation of learners' understanding of the said
topic (see Chap. 10). In practice, in the classroom, learners can be asked to build a
concept map from scratch; in other cases, an empty map can be given to the learners
when they are asked to locate in it concepts and relations presented in a given list.
Concept maps are relevant for computer science teaching and learning processes
in general and for the MTCS course in particular for several reasons. We mention
two: First, concept maps can be used for different pedagogical purposes; second, the
nature of computer science and its many facets represent different abstraction levels
and interconnections among them.
Accordingly, Activity 51 that focuses on concept maps can be facilitated in the
MTCS course after the idea of concept map is briefly introduced. This short in-
troduction can be accompanied with a relatively simple example, not necessarily
taken from computer science (the Web offers plenty of examples of concept maps),
and should present the main guidelines for how to construct concept maps, without
delving yet into their pedagogical usages.
Another option is to use concept maps as a mid-term task or as the summary task
of the semester, in which the students are asked to construct a concept map which
represents what they have learned so far in the course. Not only does such a task
foster students' reflection about what they have learned so far in the course but it
also encourages them to organize what they have learned so far in one framework
that binds computer science topics with pedagogical and cognitive aspects of com-
puter science education.