Digital network mapping tools support students in critically selecting and reviewing online data on socio-scientific controversies¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · qualitative r? · q2
Currency · newest study 2018 · checked against its sources 2026-10-19 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Upper secondary students using Gephi to visualize a scientific controversy produced new knowledge extending their previous understanding and had to work out new categories themselves. → Sten Ludvigsen 2018

Evidence¶

Sten Ludvigsen 2018¶

Sten Ludvigsen, Ulrike Cress, Carolyn P. Rosé, Nancy Law, & Gerry Stahl. (2018). Developing understanding beyond the given knowledge and new methodologies for analyses in CSCL. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 13, 359–364. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-018-9291-0

q2 · i? · qualitative · r?

The editorial reports an exploratory interaction-analysis study in a natural upper secondary setting where students used Gephi across six structuring activities to investigate a controversy without a correct answer, producing knowledge beyond their prior understanding.

"The network mapping tool supported the students when they critically selected, analyzed, and reviewed the data that they found online. The collaborative meaning-making processes made it possible for the students to produce new knowledge that extended their previous understanding of the controversy."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The software's content-blind structure makes important controversy actors difficult to find, prompting students to repurpose tool features to the task — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Digital mapping tools slow down students' judging and categorizing of online material, prompting collaborative negotiation of how to make sense of a controversy — a broader claim this one bears on
• Students orient to visually prominent nodes (large, central) when beginning to categorize actors on a controversy map — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Categorizing claims on a website required students to read and interpret content beyond what the visualization tool provides, including evaluating trustworthiness — a narrower finding that bears on this claim