Abstract
The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between the integration/nonintegration of cencept maps and learners' comprehension.Learner's comprehension was measured by the number of links on the learner's concept map and the "hamming distance"from the learner's map to a master map.For the purpose of this research, concept maps were categorized into integrative maps or the non-integrative maps.The maps were further subcategorized into the following four categories besed on the changes/non-changes in integration:(a)an integrative group which maintained integrated maps throughout the learning process, (b)a group which changed from non-integrative maps to integrative maps, (c)a group which changed from integrative maps to non-integrative maps, and (d)a non-integrative group.The results showed the following;(1)changes in integration of the concept map were observed through an increased number of links among the keywords discovered by the learner in class, and (2)changes in integration of the concept map were observed through achievement in class.Concept mapping is therefore a useful tool to assess learner's conceptual changes in class by usingt the parameter of integration and non-integration of concept map.
