Visualizing Urban Forestry: Using Concept Maps to Assess Student Performance in a Learning-Centered Classroom

Assessment of student performance in learning-centered classrooms should be closely aligned with that pedagogical approach and should promote student learning. Although most college professors desire students to learn course content deeply and be able to use their learning afterward, students often learn only "for the test." To encourage students to take responsibility for constructing their own knowledge and to increase the likelihood that they will use it in their future roles as professionals, we developed a protocol for a semester final exam in which students generate concept maps describing their learning during an urban forestry course. To successfully complete this assignment, students must illustrate hierarchies and connections among course topics and information into creative schema. Student narratives describing their maps provide further evidence of learning and thinking about course content. This method of assessment emphasizes student responsibility for learning and has proven to be effective for both instructor and students.