Date of Award
2009
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Abstract
This qualitative study examined seven preservice teachers' perceptions of their science content knowledge, teaching practices, and reflective processes through the use of the metacognitive strategy of concept maps. Included in the paper is a review of literature in the areas of preservice teachers' perceptions of teaching, concept development, concept mapping, science content understanding, and reflective process as a part of metacognition. The key questions addressed include the use of concept maps to indicate organization and understanding of science content, mapping strategies to indicate perceptions of teaching practices, and the influence of concept maps on reflective process. There is also a comparison of preservice teachers' perceptions of concept map usage with the purposes and practices of maps as described by experienced teachers. Data were collected primarily through interviews, observations, a pre- and post-concept mapping activity, and an analysis of those concept maps using a rubric developed for this study. Findings showed that concept map usage clarified students' understanding of the organization and relationships within content area and that the process of creating the concept maps increased participants' understanding of the selected content.
Extent
xvii, 204 p. : ill. (some col.)
Recommended Citation
Somers, Judy L., "Using concept maps to explore preservice teachers' perceptions of science content knowledge, teaching practices, and reflective processes" (2009). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009. 1809.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_5/1809
Identifier
FADT221953
Comments
by Judy L. Somers.|Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009.|Includes bibliography.|Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.|by Judy L. Somers.