Orchestrating class discussion with collaborative kit-build concept mapping

Abstract

In the collaborative learning context, typical classroom practices tend to create three distinguishable levels of activity: individual-activities, small-group work, and whole-class discussion. It is important to connect the analysis of the levels for teachers to understand and improve the dynamics of students’ understanding of collaborative learning. This study, with the Kit-Build Concept Map method, proposes a method to analyze the three levels of activities in the classroom. Kit-Build Concept Map is a type of close-ended concept map and provides decomposed concepts and links from the concept map made by a teacher. This mechanism enables teachers to check students’ understanding and to facilitate his or her coordination of learning in a classroom. This paper illustrates the method with the result of a case study in a junior high school in Japan.