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category of relationships, applicable to any kind
of domain. Relations such as
type-of
and
part-of
are examples of structural relationships. On the
other hand, domain-specific relationships are user-
defined and have their meaning associated to a
particular subject, carrying their own semantics.
The construction of the conceptual model is
based on the Conceptual Mapping Technique,
proposed by Novak (Novak, 1990). Among the
reasons for choosing this technique we point
out: (1) it is suitable for representing concepts
and for structuring the knowledge domain; (2)
it is intuitive and easy to use; (3) it is based on
educational principles, having a good acceptance
among educational specialists and professionals;
and (4) it is adopted by the majority of existing
modeling approaches for educational content. In
addition to the rules for creating conceptual maps,
some specific notations aimed at representing the
relationships of concept taxonomy (
type-of
) and
concept composition (
part-of
) were included.
mathematical knowledge:
concepts
,
results
and
examples
. Horn (1989) proposed the Information
Mapping Technique, which consists of dividing the
information related to the nodes of a conceptual
map into small portions of information, called
information maps
(
concept
,
structure
,
proce-
dure
,
fact
,
process
,
classification
, and
principle
).
Similarly, information maps can be divided into
smaller parts, called
information blocks
(
defini-
tion
,
example
,
classification list
,
rule
,
synonym
,
theorem
,
exercise
, and so on).
In our work we have adopted the Component
Display Theory (CDT), proposed by Merrill
(1983). Regarding content, CDT specifies the
following elements (Clark, 2000; Robles, 2007):
•
Concepts
: Symbols, events and objects
that share characteristics and are identified
by the same name. Concepts make up a
large portion of language and understand-
ing them is essential to communication.
•
Facts
: Logically associated pieces of in-
formation. Names, data and events are ex-
amples of facts.
•
Procedures
: A set of ordered steps to solve
a problem or accomplish a goal.
•
Principles
: Work through either cause-
and-effect or relationships. They explain
or predict why something happens in a par-
ticular way.
Instructional Model
Besides concepts, information items and instruc-
tional elements should also be considered as part
of the knowledge domain. In the
Instructional
Model
we are interested in defining such addi-
tional information related to the concepts previ-
ously identified. We are not interested in how
the information will be associated, but in what
kind of information we can use to develop more
significant and motivating educational content.
The construction of the instructional model
involves two phases: (1) the refinement of the
conceptual model; and (2) the definition of the
instructional elements. In the first phase we have
to specify what kind of additional information
can be incorporated to the concepts already rep-
resented in the conceptual model. We call them
information items
. Several theories and techniques
can be referred to support the establishment of
information items. Michener (1978), for instance,
specified three basic elements for structuring
In the second phase we have to define the
instructional elements
, used as a complement to
the information items. Three types of elements
can be defined (Barbosa, 2004; Barbosa & Mal-
donado 2006a):
•
Explanatory
: Deals with the complemen-
tary information used for explaining a
given topic - examples, hints, suggestions
of study, and so on. They can play a num-
ber of different roles depending on their
purpose. An example, for instance, can be
associated according two distinct perspec-
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