RETHINKING THE USE OF CONCEPT MAPS Mariya Burdina

University of Central Oklahoma

How can I get to the library?

What’s the difference between income and price elasticity?

Temporal contiguity principle

Students learn better when corresponding words and “pictures” are presented simultaneously rather than successively

• Mayer, 2004

Traditional concept maps • A concept map is a diagram showing the relationships

among concepts • Satisfies temporal contiguity principle

GDP map (Nora Buchman, Scribd)

GDP

Nominal GDP Real GDP

GDP Deflator

 

Inflation

Spatial principle

• Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented near rather than far from each other

• Mayer, 2004

Conceptual chapter map • A graphical tool for organizing concepts

• Shows links among concepts • Provides brief explanation of the concepts • Satisfies temporal contiguity principle• Satisfies spatial principle

Use

• Review tool for a topic or a chapter• Drawn on the board by instructor • Completed with the help of students • Distributed to students• Used during in-class assignments/quizzes • Option for “revising” a chapter map

Production Possibility Frontier • Slope

• Constant • Increasing

• Points: • inside• outside • on PPF • Corners

• Shifts in PPF• Affecting one good • Affecting both goods

Production Possibility Frontier show every possible combination of two goods produced by a country

Slope of PPF shows the Opportunity Cost

Shifts of PPF occur when either technology or amount of resources is changed

Intercepts: Red – max production of good A when B = 0Orange - max production of good B when A = 0Possible but not efficient: Green and every point inside PPF Possible and efficient: Black, Red, Orange and every point on PPF Not possible but desirable: Blue and every point outside PPF

Good A

Good B

Good A

Good B

Good A

Good B

Good A

Good B

Good A

Good B

Constant OC Increasing OC Affecting both goods Affecting one good

Demand, Supply, Market Equilibrium• Law of demand • Shifts of demand curve • Law of supply • Shifts of supply curve • Market equilibrium • Surplus • Shortage • Changes in market equilibrium

Market

Demand Supply

Changing price: Increasing price decreases QdDecreasing price increases Qd

Changing price: Increasing price increases QsDecreasing price decreases Qs

Changing Demand:

Number of consumersPopularityFuture pricesChange in income: - Normal goods - Inferior goods

Changing Supply:

Number of Sellers Better technology Future prices Input pricesPrices/popularity of similar goods

Changes in EquilibriumAlgorithm: 1) Draw the D and S curves and

show the equilibrium 2) Decide whether event shifts S

curve or D curve or both3) Decide in which direction curve(s)

shifts. 4) Illustrate the shifts using the graph5) Use supply-demand diagram to

identify new equilibrium P and Q.

“Evidence”

• Students use concept maps in class • A-ha moments • Reduced load of questions during the in-class assignment

“Evidence”

• Business statistics • Normal vs. Standard Normal vs. Uniform• Hypothesis testing

• Intermediate Microeconomics • Max utility vs. Min cost • EV vs. CV

Practical strategies • Introduce maps as a review before in class assignment

• Assign “revise” the map instead of the “create” the map

• Keep it simple (Coherence Principle) • Students learn better when extraneous material is excluded rather

than included

• Think what’s important and what is not. Only the most important things should be included in the map

Practical strategies • Keep it colorful to emphasize important points

• Make sure that assignment can be answered with concept map

• Provide links and definitions; allow space for student to fill in with examples

“Evidence”

• Principles of Micro • PPF • Opportunity Cost and

Trade • Demand, Supply and

Equilibrium • Elasticity • Surplus • Public goods • Cost • Market comparison • Each type of market

• Principles of Macro • GDP • Inflation • Productivity and

growth• Savings and

Investment • Unemployment • Open market

economy

Next step: Class Experiment • Conceptual chapter map in Principles of Macroeconomics • 2 classes of students:

• Chapter map for in-class assignment for Class 1 • Notes for in-class assignment for Class 2 • No notes for the test

• Chapter map for quiz for Class 1 • Notes for quiz for Class 2 • No notes for the test