Using Concept Maps in Political Science

This paper tests the effectiveness of concept mapping as a classroom technique and curricular tool. In it, I use survey data and semi-structured interviews to assess student perceptions of the learning and the impact of concept mapping. I find that concept maps are an excellent way to encourage thorough reading of complex texts. Concept maps are a simple, powerful tool that dramatically enhances student learning. The social sciences are deeply textual – for example, relatively few students of political science will find themselves in the position to directly cause the international dynamics we discuss, although virtually all of them will read reports of political activity and form opinions based (we hope) on the learning that occurred in our classrooms. Knowledge within the field is primarily conveyed in written form, through books and articles. Thus, as educators, a chief concern is the creation of mechanisms to facilitate student retention and cognitive integration of written material. In this working paper, I argue that one of the best techniques for the study of texts is actually visual – rather than simply produce another text that is an abbreviated summary (as in notes or outlines) or a long-form application (as in essays), students ought to create a picture of the ideas we want them to learn. The notion that some information can be usefully conveyed in graphic (rather than purely textual) form is not a new one in the history of human thought, nor is it particularly novel in political science. We are, after all, the discipline renowned for our ability to capture the world on a 2x2 table, express causality in the line of a regression, and boil the presentation of our work down to a handy PowerPoint. Nonetheless, we tend underutilize graphical representation of texts themselves, both in our classroom instruction and in our assignments to students. Empirical study and education theory suggest that concept mapping is a particularly powerful form of graphical representation for student learning; thus, I suggest that the practice should be adopted widely in political science education. In this working paper, I discuss the theory and practice of