Cmap Tools and the avoidance of mindless mapping

1. Wireless Ready 3NUCB NagoyaFebuary 20, 2009 Cmap Tools and the avoidance ofmindless mapping Lawrie Hunter Kochi University of Technology http://www.core.kochi-tech.ac.jp/hunter/

2. Cmap Tools software has taken solid hold in science education in many countries, primarily for use in representing learner and instructor perceptions of the interrelations between concepts, and has a number of appealing applications for IT based language education. The software is crossplatform and free (http://cmap.ihmc.us/download/). It connects the user automatically to free online storage and sharing. Cmaps can be exported as web pages, graphics or pdfs.Cmap Tools is designed for the creation of 'Novakian' maps, i.e. maps whose nodes are necessarily connected by text-labelled links. This apparently innocuous feature forces articulation of perception, but it has the same weakness as the (in)famous 'mind maps': without some constraint imposed by the instructor or within the task definition, learner performance can roam widely, resulting in 'mindless maps.'This paper first outlines the structure issues underlying the witting use of cmaps: rhetorical structure, text structure, paragraph structure and sentence structure. Without incorporating these structures in the framing of task design, the instructor/designer will not be able to control the form of learner output.The paper then demonstrates the use of four types of task constraint which the author has developed for Cmap tasks in the teaching of entry and upper advanced EFL writing. These constraint types, which reduce to easily manageable task design elements, are: map size; allowable links; rhetorical devices; and degree of abstraction. The participant will come away with a set of conceptual tools for the witting use of the excellent Cmap Tools.

3. What My Computer Can Do

4. What My Computer Can Do What My Computer Makes Me Think

5. CALL

6. CALLcomputer assisted language learning

7. ESL

8. ESLEnglish as a second language

9. EFL

10. EFLEnglish as a foreign language

11. ESWoT

12. ESWoTEnglish as a second way of thinking

13. ESR

14. ESREnglish as a second rhetoric

15. TESR

16. TESRtechnical English as a second rhetoric

17. OUTLINE for today1. Cmap tools2. The witting use of Cmaps-structure issues3. Four types of task constraint for Cmap tasks in the teaching of entry and upper advanced EFL writing. 1. map size 2. allowable links 3. rhetorical devices 4. degree of abstraction

18. 1. Cmap tools Global tension in Hunter’s mapping work: When is mapping more effective/efficient than text in task presentation/performance?

19. Cmap tools Uses of mapping in EFL Summarizing content of a text 2. Analysing content of a text 3. Brainstorming in pre-writing 4. Structural planning of a writing task 5. Low-text display of knowledge 6. “Visual cloze” 7. 8.

20. 1. Cmap tools Types of mapping systems Mind mapping Directed link maps Textured-link maps Horn’s argument mapping AusThink’s argument mapping Rationale argument mapping RST* maps *Rhetorical Structure Theory

21. Argument mapping Information structure mapping Syntactic mapping Grammatical mapping (pseudo) Association mapping Mind mapping á la Tony Buzan

22. Argument mapping Information structure mapping Syntactic mapping Grammatical mapping (pseudo) Association mapping Mind mapping The links are all associations -i.e. zero granularity

23. Directed-link maps Argument mapping Information structure mapping Syntactic mapping Grammatical mapping (pseudo) Association mapping http://www.inspiration.com/

24. Textured-link* maps Boil a liquid Make steam Rotate turbines Generate electricity Argument mapping Information structure mapping seawater heat fossil or N-heat boil NH3 boil H2O ! Syntactic mapping OTEC plants older type plants steam 20C steam 500C ! Grammatical mapping (pseudo) low power high power ! Association mapping zero energy cost high energy cost *graphically textured

25. Textured-link* maps Argument mapping Information structure mapping Syntactic mapping Grammatical mapping (pseudo) Association mapping *textually textured

26. Textured-link maps (directed links) Argument mapping Information structure mapping Syntactic mapping Grammatical mapping (pseudo) Association mapping v

27. Novakian maps, with their textured link dyadic elements, can be used to represent arguments. The rules of operation for Novakian maps may be defined as: Rectangles (nodes) contain concepts. Rectangles are joined by labeled lines (propositions). Propositions are usually uni-directional. The label in the middle of a proposition is called a linking phrase.

28. 2. The witting use of Cmaps -structure issues The structure issues underlying the witting use of cmaps: rhetorical structure text structure paragraph structure sentence structure.

29. 2. The witting use of Cmaps -structure issues The structure issues underlying the witting use of cmaps: rhetorical structure text structure paragraph structure sentence structure. Without incorporating these structures in the framing of task design, the instructor/designer will not be able to control the form of learner output.

30. 2. The witting use of CmapsQuantum levels of mapping Argument mapping Information structure mapping Syntactic mapping Grammatical mapping (pseudo) Association mapping

31. Hunter’s framework for text analysis

32. Hunter’s framework subsets Rhetorical analysis Structure analysis

33. 3. Four types of task constraint for Cmap tasks in the teaching of entry and upper advanced EFL writing. Study: technical academic writing -writing abstracts

34. 3. Four types of task constraint for Cmap tasks in the teaching of entry and upper advanced EFL writing. 1. map size 2. allowable links 3. rhetorical devices 4. degree of abstraction

35. 3. Four types of task constraint for Cmap tasks in the teaching of entry and upper advanced EFL writing. 1. map size

36. 3. Four types of task constraint for Cmap tasks in the teaching of entry and upper advanced EFL writing. 1. map size -allowable number of nodes Phase 1: unconstrained associative mapping Learners made association type concept maps of the content of a text. To force summarization, a limit of 10 nodes was imposed. Performance was strongly uniform in terms of node content. Generally the learners used the lexical units found in the text. ppt 1: associational mapping

37. 3. Four types of task constraint for Cmap tasks in the teaching of entry and upper advanced EFL writing. 2. allowable links

38. 3. Four types of task constraint for Cmap tasks in the teaching of entry and upper advanced EFL writing. 2. allowable links Phase 2: unconstrained Novakian mapping Learners map the same text again, using Cmap software. Object: "try to represent the argument in the Niiho paper," which was described in the article. Maps were highly varied (chaotic variation) in content and in link type. ppt 2: argument mapping

39. 3. Four types of task constraint for Cmap tasks in the teaching of entry and upper advanced EFL writing. 2. allowable links Phase 3: Learners mapped the text a third time, again using Cmap software, but with only the argumentation links shown below.

40. 3. Four types of task constraint for Cmap tasks in the teaching of entry and upper advanced EFL writing. 2. allowable links Phase 3: Learners mapped the text a third time, again using Cmap software, but with only the argumentation links shown below. Learner product was quite uniform in choice of links from the array. Map structure and content varied relatively little.

41. 3. Four types of task constraint for Cmap tasks in the teaching of entry and upper advanced EFL writing. 3. rhetorical devices Using Cmap Tools to create RST* maps *Rhetorical Structure Theory

42. The text: 1) Lactose and Lactase 2) Lactose is milk sugar; 3) the enzyme lactase breaks it down. 4) For want of lactase most adults cannot digest milk. 5) In populations that drink milk the adults have more lactase, perhaps through natural selection. 6) Norman Kretchmer, Scientific American, page 70, October 1972. RST Analysis from the RST web site (http://www.sfu.ca/rst) This abstract is nearly half background information. One of the reasons that backgrounding is not signalled by its own distinct signal (such as a conjunction) may be that such a signal would in effect say that the author thought the reader would not know this information. Some readers might find that mildly condescending if it were made explicit. Backgrounding is seldom signalled explicitly.

43. The text: 1) Lactose and Lactase 2) Lactose is milk sugar; 3) the enzyme lactase breaks it down. 4) For want of lactase most adults cannot digest milk. 5) In populations that drink milk the adults have more lactase, perhaps through natural selection. 6) Norman Kretchmer, Scientific American, page 70, October 1972.

44. Nucleus: Satellite relations The most frequent structural pattern is that two spans of text (virtually always adjacent, but exceptions can be found) are related such that one of them has a specific role relative to the other. RST says that the nucleus is more essential to the text than the satellite

45. Multinuclear relations There are also relations that do not carry a definite selection of one nucleus.

46. More RST relations

47. 3. Four types of task constraint for Cmap tasks in the teaching of entry and upper advanced EFL writing. 4. degree of abstraction

48. 3. Four types of task constraint for Cmap tasks in the teaching of entry and upper advanced EFL writing. 4. degree of abstraction -number of nodes -prescribed link content -prescribed text types

49. Argument mapping Information structure mapping Syntactic mapping Grammatical mapping (pseudo) Association mapping Future work Embed Hunter’s info structure mapping in Novakian argument mapping

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