Concept maps as assessment in science inquiry learning - a report of methodology

Increasing availability of technologies, such as CD-ROMs and the WWW, in schools means that more teachers will have the potential to implement student-centered, inquirybased approaches to learning. Assessing what each student knows in a broad subject area, such as science, is difficult. Assessing students' understanding in circumstances where each student may pursue different topics of study, where there is no way to predict in advance what those topics of study will be, and where the possible topics of study include natural phenomena which are only beginning to be studied by professional scientists is more difficult. The authors recently faced such a challenge. To meet the challenge, the authors chose to assess student