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'Fascinating cultural objects': multimodal concept mapping in teaching and learning
July 2nd 2007 16:00 - 18:00
The challenges for teachers and teacher educators breaking new ground in Visual Learning
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Seminar Chair
Christina Howell Richardson: Plymouth University
This seminar consists of three papers about the uses of multimodal mapping with teachers and students followed by a session by the speakers about the writing challenges for teachers as researchers. The topics will interest academics, students at the IOE, teachers, teacher researchers, teacher educators and advisers. The first three sessions will be 20 mins followed by 10 mins for questions. The final session will be a discussion lead by the speakers about the challenges of writing up practice based research.
16:00
Multimodal mapping: innovation in the assessment of teachers’ learning
about ICT
Christina Preston, MirandaNet Fellowship and WLE centre, Institute
of Education, University of London
This socio-cultural perspective on the multimodal literacy of teachers provides an account of how one particular cultural artefact, the multimodal map (MMM), is used as an innovative method for summative, formative, self and group assessment of teachers’ understanding of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) concepts. Over the last four years over two hundred and fifty of these MMMs drawn by teachers have been collected at the beginning and end of their ICT CPD programmes. The teachers have come from a range of countries that include China, Mexico, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden and the UK. The insights into teachers’ learning that will be shared focus on international map making conventions, a comparison between teachers’ maps and their students’ maps and some evidence about the impact of different pedagogical models on teachers’ cognitive activity and higher order thinking. The methodology builds on the approaches used in Becta’s Impact 11 study.
16:30
Collaboration, ICT and mind-mapping
John Ralston and Deidre Cook, Open University
This study, an investigation of collaborative activity in a Primary school, explores the ways in which visual material helps children to establish shared meanings. It looks at the ways in which multimodal-mapping software can support children’s exploration and presentation of ideas. It also considers ways of analysing the children’s’ maps and looks for evidence of collaboration and negotiation. This exploration took place over a period of six weeks in two English Primary schools, in each case, about twelve ten to eleven year old children worked with us. Because we wanted the software to fit into each school’s planned curriculum we identified, in discussion with the teachers, a number of possible topics which might provide a focus for the practical work. All the activities were ones that encouraged discussion and negotiation.
17:00
Investigating the impact of concept mapping in developing
effective learning dialogues
Nigel Riley, Knowle Primary School Plymouth
and Associate
Lecturer at Plymouth University
This study concentrates on the use of the maps in a Primary school to increase higher-order thinking skills. The findings suggest that using collaborative concept mapping in compositional activities increases concept and propositional transfer from talk into writing. A tentative conclusion is that the dynamic interactions between talk and resulting concept mapping enhances propositional transfer between talk, concept mapping and writing. In addition the introduction of this strategy requires whole class teaching to model and demonstrate how processes can be used in individual, paired and group learning situations. However the small size of a class sample has created some methodological challenges which will be discussed in the next session.
17:30
Challenges for teachers writing up practice based studies
for academic publication
The speakers will discuss the process of developing case studies in the classroom and talk about the challenges of writing up practice-based case studies for a special practitioners’ volume of Reflecting Education called 'Fascinating cultural objects' : multimodal concept mapping in teaching and learning which will be published in September 2007 : www.reflectingeducation.net
Do join us for an early supper in a local restaurant after the workshop at 18:30. Cost about £15:00.
WLE centre
Institute of Education, University of London
20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 2AL
Nearest tube: Russell Square.
Local area map
http://ioewebserver.ioe.ac.uk/ioe/cms/search.asp?searchstring=Map&x=0&y=0
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