Posted 17 Jul 2015 / 0
Concept mapping is increasingly becoming an important part of my overall approach to teaching. I started out using it in my own research, and quickly realized how valuable it can be as a teaching tool. Because the only real goal of making a concept map is to explore and express understanding of a topic, concept Read More
A Major Post, Community Ecology, Competition, Concept Mapping, Ecology, Ecology Education, Ecosystem Ecology, Information Design, Interactions, Learning Management Systems, Lesson Ideas, MSCI-270, Ecology, MSCI-271, Ecology for Architects, Mutualism, Predation, Teaching Tools
Posted 29 Sep 2014 / 0
For years now I have been guiding my students through a variety of concept mapping activities. Almost every one of my classes involves at least one concept mapping assignment, and I now require that proposals for a variety of term papers and projects be presented in concept map form. I also created this guide to Read More
A Major Post, Concept Mapping, Information Design, Lesson Ideas, Teaching Tools
Posted 25 Jul 2013 / 0
Now that I have made the decision to seriously assess my conceptual teaching, it is time for me to take a look at what might produce student learning. As I described in my previous post, I plan to dramatically overhaul my The Evolution of Cooperation course to optimize the value of everything that makes up my teaching. Read More
A Major Post, Assessment Methods, Concept Mapping, Conceptual Teaching Assessment Project, Evolution Education, MSCI-463, The Evolution of Cooperation
Posted 24 Jul 2013 / 0
I pride myself on being a conceptual teacher: although you will likely learn a lot of interesting facts in my classes, the focus of my teaching is on ideas and concepts. I want my students to understand how things work and why things exist, and both of these pursuits are fundamentally conceptual in nature. Almost all of Read More
A Major Post, Assessment Methods, Concept Mapping, Conceptual Teaching Assessment Project, Cooperation, Course Readings, Evolution Education, Higher Education, MSCI-463, The Evolution of Cooperation, Teaching
Posted 22 Jun 2013 / 0
Jennifer Verdolin, Dylan Moore, and I created the fieldTest simulator several years ago. This individual-based simulation allows virtual animals with the potential to form social groups that defend territories to interact on landscapes containing different patterns and abundances of resources, and is part of my larger research into group territorial behavior. We presented our results at the 2009 Read More
A Major Post, Behavioral Ecology, Competition, Concept Mapping, Department of Mathematics & Science, Ecological Modeling, Group Territorial Behavior, Individual-based Models, Information Design, Spatially Explicit Modeling
Posted 02 Nov 2012 / 2
If your brain is anything like mine, thoughts pretty much constantly race across it. As I consume media — especially media designed to inform — these thoughts intensify. As I read or listen or watch, my brain makes rapid connections between the new ideas I can recognize in the media I am consuming and the old Read More
A Major Post, Art & Design, Concept Mapping, Lesson Ideas, MSCI-160, Great Adventures in Evolution, Neuroscience, Pratt Institute
Posted 20 Jun 2011 / 2
As I have indicated on my Interests page, I am very much interested in the process of Concept Mapping. I have been using a wonderful concept-mapping tool, the Visual Understanding Environment (VUE), to create concept maps for my teaching, research, and presentations. I just stepped up my concept mapping with a new computer set up Read More
Concept Mapping, Information Design
