June 2023

I noticed when my students were generating and sorting their ideas based on how central they were to the topic of DNA, they were openly communicating with one another to adapt their design thinking and trial different possibilities (QAA, 2018). Even though the concept map creation was yet to begin, the students were displaying teamwork and problem-solving through scientific inquiry, just like true scientists (Venville et al., 2019). The entire thinking routine involved group members brainstorming different approaches, which sparked new and innovative thoughts for others. A diagrammatic representation of group dynamics that I observed during the generate and sort phases is featured in a cyclic format in Figure 2 (right).

Figure 2: The Design Cycle used by Year 10 students to plan their concept maps

The students spent approximately half of the lesson on the generate and sort phases, and the other half of the lesson on the connect and elaborate phases. As a consequence, some groups did not leave enough time to compile detailed elaborations to connect ideas. A completed concept map, with connections to both Semester 1 and Semester 2 topics, is featured in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3: A Year 10 group’s completion of the concept map with DNA as the central topic.

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Brisbane Girls Grammar School