CONCEPT MAPPING AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARGUMENTATION

IN THE ZPD

-

24/09/2014 Alfredo Tifi

I.I.S. Matteo Ricci, Macerata - Italy

alfredo.tifi@gmail.com

Parts

1. Concepts as tools

1. Adolescence and thinking in concepts

1. Scaffolding argumentation

Most students need a shift FROM: “Let me remember

what should I say-do about it” TO “Let me see-probe it”

First, we are advancing the idea that the best way to help students

learn meaningfully is to help them explicitly to see the nature and

role of concepts and the relationship between concepts as they

exist in their minds and as they exist "out there" in the world

or in printed or spoken instruction. This is a simple but profound

idea; it may take months or years for students to recognize that

what they hear, see, touch or smell is in part dependent on the

concepts they have in their minds. This aim is basic to a program

to help students learning how to learn.

Teachers, as Joe Novak, aim at

bridging

Individual experience & culture

Actions-procedures & desired shapes of

problem solution

Internal meanings & "external" meanings

1. Concepts as tools

There are two types of “tools”

COMPLEXES

Spontaneous

Context embedded

Unhierarquical

Hardly rehearsable

Irreversible thinking

CONCEPTS

Conscious awareness

Disembeddable

Hierarchical

Long term memory

Reversible thinking

Sacharov - Vygotsky dual stimulation

experiment (Paula Towsey, 2006-8)

Complexes (concrete) Concepts (abstract)

Lag = tall&big

Mur = tall&small

Bik = flat&big

Cev = flat&small

extra

shapes

Power of concepts - solving problems

Problem solving, as reasoning...

is to change reality and/or our views of it.

This implies a route from one

configuration to another (a sort of labelled wiring of mind gestures)

?

Thinking in complexes

is, appearance based,

trial and errors plus repetition and habit.

This is concrete, irreversible, global,

short lasting

We can "rewire" the path

of our mental gestures,

by introducing “tracking” concepts.

These are abstract, analytical, reversible,

and they stick in our memory

Thinking in concepts

2. Adolescence and thinking in concepts

Thought and Language, 1986, p.120

“...the adult cannot pass on to the child

his mode of thinking. He merely

supplies the ready-made meanings of

the words, around which the child

builds complexes. Such complexes

are nothing but pseudoconcepts.”

So, what are pseudococepts?

& most of all,

how could I help students to

empower and actualize their

potential for thinking in concepts?…

Pseudoconcepts are the bridge

Pseudoconcepts are generated as complexes

in child’s thinking, but their word meaning

coincides with concepts used by adults.

Therefore they act as a bridge between

thinking in complexes and thinking in

concepts.Ilkka Tuomi, “Vygotsky in a TeamRoom; An exploratory study on

collective concept formation in electronic environments,

Nokia Group, Finland: Nokia Research Center., 1998

CO

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…

.

Pseudoconcepts & ZPD

CO

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learner

alone

reasoning & conceptual

problem-solving

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DO

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scaffolded

adolescent

ZP

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Objects & Events

Cognitive apprenticeship

“Using pseudoconcepts, the child begins to

operate with concepts, to practice conceptual

thinking, before he is clearly aware of the

nature of these operations.

The child can engage in adult forms of thinking,

as in a “cognitive” play, where these forms can

acquire meaning.”Ikka Tuomi, cit.

3. Bulleted argumentation

1. Start from a clearly stated focus question

2. Single sentence answers are banned

3. The argument is composed of knol-claims

4. These are logically connected to form a

coherent, essential and meaningful whole

5. Concepts are recognized and highlighted

Structure

of a good

argument

Focus question and argumentWhat determines the kind of chemical bond used to link two atoms?

Hard to Explain & cause-effect

Evidential

elementstestify to

Hypothesized

Crime

Change of

propertiesis an evidence of

Change of

internal structure

Hypothesis

of crimeproves

Evidence of

Crime

Structural

Changeis an evidence of

Change in obsvd

properties

R I G H T

W R O N G

Maturing - expanding the ZPD

Initial

Associative connections

Juxtaposed sentences or:

Single sentence answers

Logical errors in causation

Partial vision of topic

Final

Explicit connections

Cohesiveness

Articulation - context

Correct explication

Focused and coherent

alfredo.tifi@gmail.comTHANK YOU FOR

YOUR ATTENTION

Focus question is critical

1. Complex enough to avoid single sentences answers

2. Central enough in the knowledge domain to embrace as

many concepts as possible

3. Scoped enough to avoid “all-inclusive”, purely

descriptive answers

4. Inquisitive enough to require research and

argumentation as answer, instead of an outline of facts

5. Open enough to permit different possible choices to

organize the answer argument

Some advices for argument practice

1. Read the whole focus question

2. Put meanings of FQ concepts in the first claims

3. Do not list pertinent information, but answer to

explain to or convince an imaginary 3rd person

4. Peer review considering that readers of your

answer wants to learn, understand, get answers

5. Eliminate everything superfluous and conclude

Typical organization

Oral Argumentation

Team work preparation

Arguing and defending

Rubric team evaluation

Written Argumentation

Jigsaw group quest &

Raw argumentation

Team argumentation

Team concept-mapping

Argument vs Cmaps

1. Wide range of skills

age related

2. More similar to

“normal” language

3. More freedom in the

organization of

propositions

1. Difficulties are less

related to age

2. Syntactical hindrance

3. Less scope for logic

connectors

4. Better synthesis

5. Flexibility in reading

List of unlinked claims

Some non-predicative sentences listed

Embedded text (plus double cmap)

Showing the contrast between compact and

stepped argument

Scaffolding: work in progress

Restructuring with inter-claim links

Formative assessment

Evaluation rubric for assessment

“True conceptual thinking only

becomes possible in adolescence”

“Conceptual thinking in adolescents and adults,

insofar as it is involved in solving daily

problems, does not advance beyond the the

level of pseudoconcepts.”

(Vygotsky, Thought and Language, 1986 p.140)

Thought and Language, 1986, p.141

“Adolescent’s operations with concepts bring out,

in the first place, a striking discrepancy between

his ability to form concepts and his ability to define

them.

The adolescent will form and use a concept quite

correctly in a concrete situation, but will find it

strangely difficult to express that concept in words”

“Analysis of reality with the help of

concepts precedes analysis of the

concepts themselves.”

Thought and Language, 1986, p.141

Towards High Order Thinking Skills

“As the child proceeds in this ‘zone of

proximal development,’ his thought

processes change, and advanced

cognitive processes emerge.”

Ikka Tuomi, cit.