Learning to learn with concept maps: A didactic applicationwith future engineers

Abstract

[EN] As is well known, the design of university curricula is focused on the acquisition of skills. Transversal competences stand out, which are key and transferable throughout life. They include cognitive, metacognitive skills, and instrumental and attitudinal knowledge. Its main characteristics are: integrative, transferable, interdependent, multifunctional and evaluable (ICE, 2015: 2). Four transversal competences are worked on and evaluated in the course presented in this work: CT04. Innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship; CT06. Teamwork and leadership; CT10. Knowledge of contemporary problems, and CT11. Learning to learn.

In particular, we pay special attention to the development of learning to learn competence, a key competence set by the European Commission (EC, 2007). We consider it essential for students to achieve a good level of acquisition of this competence, since it encompasses many useful skills and abilities for good professional performance (communication, information management, critical thinking, problem solving, interpersonal relationships, etc.). A complete review of the literature on the definition of this competence and its dimensions can be seen in Gargallo López et al. (2020).

In this work we present an experience carried out in a Business Management course, a compulsory subject at the master's level. The experience that we describe focuses on the elaboration of a conceptual map of the contents worked on in a part of the agenda that generally presents comprehension problems in the students.

Conceptual maps (Novak and Gowin, 1988) are a valuable tool that can help when there exist problems of understanding. In this sense, a work strategy has been designed to allow conceptual maps to be incorporated into the teaching-learning process and to use this tool to build their own knowledge. In this context, Pozo and Monereo (1999) indicate that learning is facilitated if the teacher helps students to use appropriate information representation and summary techniques.

The experience has been positive for both the teacher and the students. In general, the majority of students value (qualitative evaluation), on the one hand, the level of organization and understanding acquired through the construction of the conceptual map and, on the other hand, the importance of teamwork through collaborative group dynamics. Discussions have allowed them to interact and have made them easier to increase their knowledge.

Moreover, the construction of the final conceptual map implies applying different learning strategies such as decision making, discussions, sharing, synthesizing information, ranking and presenting the concepts, etc., and allows them to extrapolate data to reflect on other topics. In addition, it favors the development of skills such as learning to learn, teamwork, leadership and communication (oral and written). Among the difficulties, students point out the lack of time and the novelty of the methodology.