Physical webbing: collaborative kinesthetic three-dimensional Mind Maps®

Mind Mapping has predominantly been used by individuals or collaboratively in groups as a paper-based or computer-generated learning strategy. In an effort to make Mind Mapping kinesthetic, collaborative, and three-dimensional, an innovative pedagogical strategy, termed Physical Webbing, was devised. In the Physical Web activity, groups collaboratively build concrete (physical) representations of content using kinesthetic or participatory manipulatives. The theoretical underpinnings of the Physical Web include the scientific findings on the physicality of learning and Papert’s constructionist theory. A case study example of the implementation of the Physical Webbing process delineates a specific application and provides procedures for replication and expansion of the strategy. Qualitative analysis of the attitudinal surveys following the activity provided data regarding students’ preference for the Physical Webbing activity over the traditional lecture, acceptance of participatory manipulatives, perceived learning and attitudes towards collaborative kinesthetic three-dimensional Mind Mapping

Mind Map Our Way into Effective Student Questioning: a Principle-Based Scenario

Student questioning is an important self-regulative strategy and has multiple benefits for teaching and learning science. Teachers, however, need support to align student questioning to curricular goals. This study tests a prototype of a principle-based scenario that supports teachers in guiding effective student questioning. In the scenario, mind mapping is used to provide both curricular structure as well as support for student questioning. The fidelity of structure and the process of implementation were verified by interviews, video data and a product collection. Results show that the scenario was relevant for teachers, practical in use and effective for guiding student questioning. Results also suggest that shared responsibility for classroom mind maps contributed to more intensive collective knowledge construction