Using Concept Maps to Illustrate the Evolution of Key Concepts: Student Learning Experience in a Foundational Undergraduate Engineering Course

As a graphical tool for knowledge organization, representation, and elicitation, concept mapping has received growing attention and application in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines as an effective instructional strategy to improve student conceptual understanding. This paper reports how the concept mapping approach was employed in a foundational undergraduate engineering dynamics course. In this course, students (rather than the instructor) developed their concept maps to illustrate the evolution of key concepts in engineering dynamics. Data were collected from students who took an engineering dynamics course in recent two semesters: Semester I when concept mapping was not employed and Semester II when concept mapping was employed. The results show that as compared to Semester I, students developed better conceptual understanding in Semester II. Four representative examples of concept maps generated by students in Semester II are presented in this paper. A representative set of student comments are also presented, which demonstrate how the concept mapping approach helped students develop better conceptual understanding.