CHAPTER 4

ASSESSING CONCEPTUAL
UNDERSTANDING IN MATHEMATICS WITH
CONCEPT MAPPING

Hazel Grace C. Arban

 Right Triangle

Scalene Triangle

All
thre
e
not sides
equ a
al re With two sides are
equal

TRIANGLE
Isosceles Triangle

Equilateral Triangle
Overview
Mathematics educators and mathematics
curriculum worldwide have emphasized the
importance of students‘ ability to construct
connections among mathematics concepts
(conceptual understanding) instead of just the
competence to carry out standard procedures in
isolated ways.
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Overview
In this chapter, we discuss the use of concept
mapping as an assessment tool in mathematics
instruction, including different types of concept
mapping tasks, training in concept mapping,
applications in classroom settings, and
evaluation of student-constructed concept maps.
Two principal issues to actualize this curriculum goal are
• Finding ways to help students make connections among
what they have learned and
• to assess their conceptual interconnectedness
Lesson 1. Problem Solving and Assessment in the
Mathematics Curriculum

Concept Map and Concept Mapping

Types of Concept Mapping Tasks

Training on Concept Mapping

Classroom Applications of Concept Map

Assessment of Student-Constructed Concept Maps

Lesson 1. Problem Solving and Assessment in
the Mathematics Curriculum

Cognitive psychologists have proposed

that knowledge should be interconnected.
In mathematics, the importance of
interconnectedness among mathematical
concepts has been emphasized under the
label ―conceptual understanding.
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Van de Walle, Karp, and Bay-Willams (2010)
define conceptual understanding as ―the
knowledge about relationships or
foundational ideas of a topic, and these
relationships are built from underlying
concepts that are meaningful to the
students.
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The Singapore mathematics syllabus (Ministry of
Education, Singapore, 2006) highlights that students
should develop a deep understanding of
mathematical concepts and make sense of various
mathematical ideas, including their connections and
applications; that is, students should see
mathematics as an integrated whole instead of
isolated pieces of knowledge.

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What to Expect?
At the end of the lesson, the students can:
1. explain concept map and its elements;
2. classify the types of concept mapping tasks;
3. perform the steps in the training of concept mapping;
4. apply concept mapping as an assessment tool; and
5. evaluate student-constructed concept maps.
 Concept Map and Concept Mapping
TRIANGLE

Concept maps are drawings or diagrams used With two sides

are equal
to help students organize and represent All three
sides are
knowledge of a subject. It begins with a main not equal
Isosceles
Triangle
idea or concept, and then branch out to show
Scalene
how that main idea can be broken down into Triangle When its basilar
angles equal to
specific topics. It is a tool that visualizes 60⁰

relationships between concepts. Concept map

Equilateral
is useful to emphasize complex information on Triangle

a large scale.
 Concept Map and Concept Mapping
TRIANGLE

Concept map was first developed by With two sides

are equal
Joseph Novak and his team in the 1970s All three
sides are
not equal
as a tool to document changes in Isosceles
Triangle

understanding of a wide range of scientific Scalene

Triangle When its basilar
angles equal to
concepts held by students as they moved 60⁰

from first grade to twelfth grade (Novak and

Equilateral
Musonda, 1991). Triangle
 Concept Map consists of three elements:

TRIANGLE
1. Nodes representing
concepts, usually enclosed in With two sides are equal

All three sides are

ovals or rectangles not equal

Isosceles Triangle

The nodes can be

Scalene Triangle
mathematical concepts, When its basilar angles
equal to 60⁰

examples and non-examples

of the concepts, diagrams,
Equilateral Triangle
symbols, and formulas.
 TRIANGLE

With two sides are equal

All three sides are

not equal

2. Links showing Isosceles Triangle

connections between Scalene Triangle

When its basilar angles
concepts equal to 60⁰

Equilateral Triangle
 TRIANGLE

With two sides are

equal
All three sides are
3. Linking phrases not equal

Isosceles Triangle
specifying relationships
Scalene Triangle
between pairs of When its basilar angles
equal to 60⁰

concepts.

Equilateral Triangle
 When it has an TRIANGLE
acute angle it is an

With two sides are

Acute- angled equal
When two or more Triangle
All three sides are
not equal
nodes are linked,
Isosceles Triangle
statements are
formed, and these Scalene Triangle
When its basilar angles
statements are called equal to 60⁰

propositions. is an

Equilateral Triangle
Why is concept map useful in assessing conceptual understanding?
Research suggests that the degree of a student‘s understanding is
determined by the number, accuracy, and strength of connections
(Hiebert and Carpenter, 1992; Resnick and Ford, 1981). Thus, a concept
is well understood if it has a sufficient number of accurate and strong
links with other related concepts. From this perspective, a concept map
can provide a visual representation of the interconnected properties of
the concepts held by the student
THANK YOU
AND
GOD BLESS!