Title:	CONCEPT MAPPING AND CRITICAL THINKING: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR CONCEPT MAPPING TOOL DEVELOPMENT
Author(s):	Allan Jeong, Rachel Wong and Jean Baptiste Mbanzabugabo
ISBN:	978-989-8704-72-6
Editors:	Demetrios G. Sampson, Dirk Ifenthaler and Pedro Isaías
Year:	2025
Edition:	Single
Keywords:	Concept Maps, Critical Thinking, Learning Analytics
Type:	Full Paper
First Page:	41
Last Page:	52
Language:	English
Cover:
Full Contents:	if you are a member please login
Paper Abstract:	This systematic review investigates the impact of concept mapping on students' critical thinking (CT) skills by analyzing 17 empirical studies involving 1,363 students. Despite widespread claims that concept mapping enhances CT—defined here as analysis, evaluation, inference, deduction, and induction—the findings are mixed, largely due to inconsistencies in research design, reporting practices, and especially weaknesses in the tools used to assess concept maps and CT skills. Many studies failed to clearly identify which CT skills were targeted or how those skills contributed to map quality. Only one study evaluated map quality, a potentially valuable indicator of students' application of CT skills. To address these limitations, this paper proposes future directions for concept mapping tool development, highlighting tools like jMAP that integrate learning analytics and generative AI to track mapping behaviors, evaluate semantic link accuracy, and infer CT skills in real time. These capabilities offer a scalable, data-driven approach to identifying, monitoring, and supporting students' CT development. By operationalizing CT skills through observable mapping actions and embedding instructional prompts and feedback mechanisms, such tools support more precise and consistent assessment and scaffolding of student reasoning. These innovations aim to guide future research and practice in using concept mapping as a pedagogical strategy for cultivating essential 21st-century thinking skills.
	Go Back