Journal #6

“Mapping Student Minds” by Ariel Owen

The author of this article is a teacher that along with her co-worker successfully integrated technology into her curriculum. She taught her students about the importance of health, safety, aquatic life, and preservation with the use of many technological tools. They used excel to document the flora and fauna in the area and they are using a palm pilot spreadsheet to record other data as well. They have a website to keep track of all of their research and findings. They take weekly trips to test the water and collect data about the health content of the area. In order for the students to better understand cause and effect they have accessed an online tool, casual mapping. They created a map to show the relationship between the measurable factors and the health of the creek. “The students understanding of cause and effect is developed throughout the process as they define relationships, create a casual map, refine the map, and present it to others.” The teacher from this article believes that this concept is particularly helpful to those students who have a difficult time understanding science because the maps main purpose it to simplify and break down the cause and effect of a specific topic.

Would I find it beneficial to use casual mapping in my classroom?
I think that it is a great idea. I especially thought it was smart to use it as a tool to get children thinking about how they can be successful in the classroom. It seems like it played an important role in this specific case because it demonstrated the causes and effects of their experiment. It was a great way to break it down and make it a fun learning experience.

What are some other subjects in which we could use casual mapping?
I think that casual mapping could be used in history to explain the causes and effects of wars or other decisions that we have made in the past or are currently making. We could also use it in literature to predict what a characters action might lead to.