Using Collaborative Concept Maps for Coordination and Knowledge-sharing in Learning Communities for Science

Concept maps are commonly used as knowledge representation mechanisms to classify a given domain in the scope of a constructivist knowledge building process. In this paper we carry out social constructivist learning experiences using concept maps as a collaborative knowledge-sharing tool with applications in the coordination of virtual communities for learning. In our experiment, the community studies an environmental area-theoretically and in-situ, collects data from a variety of experiments and makes a representation of it. Then, they build a common concept map representing their understanding of this area using a set of tools developed ad-hoc and integrated by a metamodel wrapping approach. Finally, they complete it linking their node with the collected information as a way to organize and to navigate through the different pieces of knowledge that they have been accumulating during several fieldtrips.