2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Investigating the Use of Concept Maps and Graph-Based Analysis to Evaluate Learning

Presented at Design in Engineering Education Division (DEED) - Tools for Planning and Evaluation of Design Projects

Concept maps have been widely used in education as a means for knowledge assessment. In engineering design research, concept maps have been used to represent participant’s mental models of a product, system, or phenomenon. Researchers have examined various uses of concept maps including assessment of student understanding of the design process, teaching physics concepts, and measuring changes in sustainability knowledge. Moreover, collaborative concept mapping and scoring rubrics for concept maps have been proposed. While there has been an abundance of discussion regarding the use cases, validity, and versatility of concept maps as an educational tool, few studies present empirical and analytical evidence. This paper presents results from a preliminary study where concepts maps have been used to assess the effectiveness of a learning activity focused on engineering design topics. A graph-based analysis of concept maps is presented, with findings compared to traditional evaluations of learning outcomes. Results suggest that the proposed approach provides an objective comparison of concept maps and helps identify concepts that are not commonly absorbed by the students. Current and future work will continue to collect more data from student participants and examine other analytical approaches for evaluating concept maps.

Authors

Dr. Apurva Patel University of Texas at Dallas [biography]

Apurva Patel is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas at Dallas. He earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University. He also completed his graduate studies at Clemson University, earning his MS in Mechanical Engineering (modeling behavior in function structures) in May 2018, and his PhD in Mechanical Engineering (individual differences in function modeling) in August 2021. Apurva’s research interests are human behavior in design, including modeling behavior in function modeling, collaborative work, graph complexity, and prediction using artificial neural networks.
Prof. Joshua D. Summers http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6129-2663 University of Texas at Dallas [biography]

Joshua D. Summers is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Summers earned his Ph.D. from ASU (design automation) and his MS (submarine design) and BS (fluidized bed design) from University of Missouri. He has worked at the Naval Research Laboratory (VR Lab and NCARAI). He was formerly a Professor at Clemson University (2002-2020). Dr. Summers’ research has been funded by government, large industry, and small-medium sized enterprises. His areas of interest include collaborative design, knowledge management, and design enabler development with the overall objective of improving design through collaboration and computation.
Mr. Pavan Prasanna Kumar http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8963-2869 University of Texas at Dallas [biography]

Pavan Kumar is a doctoral candidate at the University of Texas at Dallas focussing on Engineering Identity in undergraduate students. He earned his BE in Mechanical Engineering from VTU, Bangalore, India and MS (Ontology of Engineering Design Activities) in Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University in 2008. Pavan has been a serial entrepreneur and founder of several high-impact organisations for the past decade spearheading the hardware and maker movement in India. His areas of interest are engineering design, prototyping, inclusivity, impact and sustainability.
Shanae Lekeisha Edwards University of Texas at Dallas

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