Concept Maps and History Teaching

Abstract

In the Fall 2017 semester, I conducted an experiment, with IRB approval, in two of my classes (HIST 263: World History from 1700 and HIST 311: Women and Gender). In both classes the students were asked to complete an older version of a Concept Map that required them to read a secondary source historical article and identify the author’s argument, evidence, and conclusion and then to formulate an analytical question based on their reading. The students were then required to complete assignments using a different version of the Concept Map that included the same questions as the first map, with additional questions on what sources the author used, what did they learn from the reading, and what did the reading add to the general scholarship on the course topic. After completing the Concept Maps the students answered questions to determine whether they retained information about the article and could identify what kind of sources the author’s used. Pedagogical research suggests that Concept Mapping aids in the retention of historical material and can improve student understanding of historical analysis. (Nair & Nayansami, 2017) My hypothesis is that Concept Mapping could help student’s identify arguments in secondary source material and analyze the author’s evidence. The results suggest there was a small improvement in student retention between the old and new concept map. This presentation will discuss the results and the limitations of the data set.