Authors: C. Fontanals Rovira, B. Mesa Lao (*)
Source: BiD Universitaris of library texts i Documentació, No. 16, June 2006
Url document: http://www.ub.es/ ...
Introduction
The graphical representation of concepts emerged and developed in academic environments as a mechanism to explain the learning process in a clear and flexible. In recent years, the emergence of new digital learning scenarios and the consolidation of hypertext as a means of content delivery offer new application scenarios for this technique of representation No knowledge. Schemes web graphics can facilitate the one hand, the physical navigation through the contents of a site and, on the other, conceptual or semantic navigation through this content. In the first case, we use navigation maps as a means to represent the physical architecture behind a website. In the second case, used the concept maps to represent the logical architecture of the site.
This article is divided into 5 parts. Apart from the introduction in the second, it introduces the notion of concept map and it is related to the concept of navigation map in the context of the Internet. In the third, are the main editors of conceptual maps available free on the web and provides a comparison between them. Finally, we analyze the web sites of publishers to determine their degree of implementation in accordance with the positioning to get on the Internet and include the general conclusions.
This research has been conducted by the Group DigiDoc within the project "Semantic Web and document information systems, the Ministry of Education HUM2004-03162/FILO and Science (2004-2007). Source
concept maps and psychological theory
The origin of concept maps to be placed in the work of Joseph D. Novak made in the mid sixties of last century, in the context of a research project on the psychology of learning. Novak (1982, 1984, 1988) investigating children's learning in school, based on the theories of Ausubel (1989) and created the concept maps as a tool to visualize the type of lessons learned. Novak did not think of any Internet time, among other reasons because the network did not exist. It was then when you have seen the usefulness of these maps to facilitate access to information in digital environments.
Interestingly, some basic principles of learning theory of Ausubel which gave rise to the concept maps. The fundamental idea of \u200b\u200bthis author is based on the concept of meaningful learning , understood as learning in which the student relates new concepts to concepts already familiar in contexts that also dominates. Thus, there is an overall sense of knowledge acquired. This type of learning is conscious and substantially different from rote learning, based on recall phrases implying a true comprensióny assimilation of concepts. Meaningful learning is stored in long-term memory, whereas rote learning is stored in short-term memory. Ausubel
mentions three conditions that must occur to produce meaningful learning in the context of a training activity:
- The information has to be learned must be presented in a conceptually clear so you can relate to student's prior knowledge.
- The student must have prior knowledge that they can relate new information that has to learn.
- The student must take the decision to learn significantly.
On the other hand, Ausubel believes that the human faculty of memory is not a passive recipient to be filled, but a complex set of interrelated systems and restructure must be fed constantly.
Concept maps graphically can express relationships between concepts and thus show how an individual interrelated concepts I already knew the concepts that have been taught. Based on this principle, Ausubel concept maps used as an indicator to determine if a student had learned significantly and as a tool to assess how similar content had been organized.
Concept maps A concept map is a graphical representation of a set of interrelated concepts. This is a graphic that shows a set of ideas (concepts) and relations established between them. The ultimate goal is to capture graphically the conceptual structure of the map that the author has about the subject depicted.
According to Novak, a concept map consists of concepts and linking phrases. The concepts are represented within a rectangle and the linking phrases labeled line linking one concept with another showing the relationship established between them. Link phrases are not framed in a rectangle to differentiate the concepts.
Typically, concepts are expressed with a noun or noun phrase. The linking phrases are usually prepositions, adverbs, conjunctions and verb phrases.
