Technology and Social Studies

Computer-Based Concept Maps and Timelines

Need. Research demonstrates that students with disabilities often have background knowledge that they could bring to bear upon an event or issue about which they are reading or learning in history and other subjects. Tapping into that background knowledge would enhance their understanding. However, without support, students with disabilities may fail to do so (Bos & Vaughn, 2002; Wong, 1980).

Addressing the Need in SSPBL. To help students activate their prior knowledge, our teachers typically introduce a new historical topic with an activity such as the K-W-L (Ogle, 1986). Through class discussion, students articulate what they know and what they want to learn about a topic. Later in the unit, the class revisits the K-W-L activity by adding what they have learned about the topic. When employing the K-W-L, teachers record the discussion in a permanent form that is posted in the classroom for students to revisit and review. Similarly, teachers engage the class in discussions and record responses when generating questions to be examined in group inquiry projects.

Technology-Based Option. The software program, Inspiration, facilitates the capture and display of ideas and questions generated in brainstorming sessions such as these. Equipped with a computer and projection device, a teacher can construct a concept map of key points on the fly. Students’ ideas or questions can be represented as independent nodes in initial brainstorming sessions, and then linked to one another in substantive and hierarchical ways in later discussions or lessons. Nodes can be added and relationships among them can be changed with ease. With a click of the mouse, concept maps can be viewed as outlines and outlines as concept maps. Maps created in this manner can be printed for individual or class use and pasted into class and individual projects, including websites and presentations. In other words, digital maps and outlines are available for a much wider variety of purposes than are their paper-and-pencil counterparts.

The use of concept maps in history instruction is not limited to the whole class brainstorming sessions discussed above. Research has shown that the concept mapping and outlining tools in Inspiration can help students with disabilities actively construct an understanding of a domain and to take more effective notes and syntheses of information (Anderson- Inman, 1994; Anderson-Inman & Zeitz, 1994). In history instruction, individuals and groups of students can use concept maps as a tool for organizing the information they are collecting and analyzing during their inquiries, and as tools for organizing reports and presentations.

Although advertised for grades K-3, Kidspiration (a child-friendly version of Inspiration) may be appropriate for individual use by middle grade students. It provides text-to-speech capabilities to assist with reading and editing text. Both programs can be downloaded for a 30-day trial from the Inspiration website.

When introducing a new topic, it also is important to help students understand where the events they are about to study are situated in time. That is, what is the chronology of events leading up to the ones they will study, and how are these events related? We have used the software program, Timeliner (Tom Snyder Productions), to construct timelines of key historical events around which teachers can structure classroom discussion. Students’ personal copies can be used throughout the unit’s activities and a class timeline can be revised and extended as new events are examined. Like Inspiration, Timeliner is easy to use and allows information to be viewed and disseminated in a variety of formats. The Tom Snyder website, which offers a downloadable trial version of the software, has a rich collection of ideas for implementing Timeliner in history and other instructional areas.