What do the concept maps of my students reveal? Assessing declarative knowledge about the evolution of the universe

Abstract: The use of concept maps (Cmaps) in evaluation involves two important aspects: the planning of the task to be assigned to the students, and the strategy to evaluate the Cmaps. When well devised, teachers’ feedback is provided in a timely manner and contributes to students’ commitment to reviewing content based on problems revealed by the Cmaps. In this study, Cmaps were comparatively evaluated to identify patterns of similarity that characterize the levels of declarative knowledge presented by students about Astronomy and the development of modern science. The evaluation involved a questionnaire and a concept mapping task. The answers revealed five groups with different levels of conceptual knowledge, and the Cmaps analysis showed that the ratio between concepts related to classical Astronomy and those related to modern Astronomy, as well as the presence of multiple final concepts, are both indicators of the level of declarative knowledge. Knowing the obstacles to learning helps the teacher to adapt activities in his/her class.