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
𝛾 = 𝐶 + 𝐼 + 𝐺 + 𝑁𝑋
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
Shifts of PPF occur when either
Slope of PPF shows the
Opportunity Cost
Constant OC
Good A
Increasing OC
Good A
Good B
Good B
Intercepts:
technology or amount of resources is
Red – max production
changed
of good A when B = 0
Orange - max
Affecting one good
Affecting both goods
production of good B
when A = 0
Good A
Good A
Possible but not
efficient: Green and
every point inside PPF
Possible and efficient:
Black, Red, Orange and
Good B
Good B
every point on PPF
Not possible but
desirable: Blue and
every point outside
PPF A
Good
Good B
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
Changing price:
Increasing price
decreases Qd
Decreasing price
increases Qd
Supply
Changing Demand:
Changing Supply:
Number of consumers
Popularity
Future prices
Change in income:
- Normal goods
- Inferior goods
Number of Sellers
Better technology
Future prices
Input prices
Prices/popularity of similar goods
Changes in Equilibrium
Algorithm:
1)
Draw the D and S curves and
show the equilibrium
2)
Decide whether event shifts S
curve or D curve or both
3)
Decide in which direction curve(s)
shifts.
4)
Illustrate the shifts using the graph
5)
Use supply-demand diagram to
identify new equilibrium P and Q.
Changing price:
Increasing price increases
Qs
Decreasing price
decreases Qs
“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