This is an excellent book for researchers, or anyone in the sciences. But for most people this book will be too difficult. If you would file a book titled "Theory Construction" under Architecture, you would have difficulty with this book.

The author discusses Concept Mapping (Entity Relationship diagrams for computer people) and Vee Diagrams, a template for structuring knowledge on specific concepts.

He shows how these two tools can improve learning in students. His examples start with a science class that uses a laboratory to teach practical skills and scientific method learning to students. For these students, the two tools become important for structuring knowledge and directing future research.

His results show that students need to make learning relevant to their existing knowledge and these tools will help do that. His results show an initial drop off in standardized testing after applying these tools, but then the scores pick back up and exceed standard rote-learning. I would agree with this -- if you're talking about the upper 20 % of the students. But I can't see the class laggards buying into these tools, as they require the student to be in love with their subject. These tools show you how to go deeper and how to find new knowledge.

I would recommend these tools for advanced classes and motivated students. I agree with the author that they will help researchers push back the envelopes of knowledge on their fields of specialization.

The Vee tool forces a template of things to "Think" and "Do" when you are formulating questions on a topic. Although perhaps tedious for some, it appears to work very well. I liked it very much. Students in a science lab can use these templates to decide what questions to research, what tests need to be run, how to know if they are successful, etc.

It is in this scientific area where the big payoff for these Vee charts are. I doubt that John Q. Public is going to find them as a useful tool on everyday learning decisions. For this reason I recommend this book for any type of researcher. The author describes how these Vee Charts have been used successfully by graduate students on their theses.

But John Q. Public can easily apply the Concept Maps. And, the author uses these maps as a tool to interview and assess students. The author also uses them to help develop books, articles and learning materials.

This book would be excellent for someone who has read Kuhn (scientfic revolutions) and wants to find some tools and methodologies for extending knowledge in his field.

I think the author is correct in most of his work. This book is particularly recommended for graduate students doing any kind of research papers.

John Dunbar
Sugar Land, TX

This book teaches two tools. One is the V-diagram which involves a sceintific discovery approach of looking at an event which you ask a quetion about and that can be approached using reasong using concepts in terms of principles in the context of a theory or doing observations, recording transformations and forming conclusions. This is something you can use in everyday life. The second tool of "concept mapping" is like similiar mindmapping ibut is also different in it's structure. I found its method much better in terms of forcing me to organize concepts into principles into a whole of a theory. Its numerous examples of both tools from elementary and high school didn't dumb down the text but instead game me many insights because it explored common errors in reasoning and how a teacher can use these tools to diagnose what are the mistaken assumpitons in the student's mental model.. GREAT BOOK! Not a book of slick techniques. But two powerful tools once mastered that help you be lifelong learner on the job and in life.

Concept Mapping is a way to organize, display, and develop information. This well-written and informative book describes very nicely how it can be used in education. For educators, scientists, information technologists, and anyone else interested in clear presentation of information.

An excellent book laying out the authors'view of teaching and learning - The Human Constructivist view. If you are a science teacher and feel that there is something missing in your classrooms, read this book. If you are disenchanted with a prescriptive curriculum that bores you and your students, read this book. If you want to find out how to get into your students' minds (using tools such as concept maps), read this book. I have found this book to be full of interesting and useful ideas that can act as a spark to ignite a period of critical reflection. If science teaching is to drag itself away from a 19th Century perspective that bores the pants off our students, it is thinkers such as Mintzes, Wandersee and Novak that will light the path.

I'm not so sold on concept mapping and v-diagrams (everyone's got their own angle) but Novak's analysis of the shortcomings of education this century is excellent. There have been enormous and important innovations in educational theory this century, but very little of it has been put into practice because of the nature of the institutions.
Never mind - if you read this book, you're bound to gather some really important insights into the nature of learning, creating and using knowledge, and if you're in education or training, you'll come away not only with a higher awareness of learning theory, but some exciting ideas to try in your own practice.

If you've read Professor Novak's "Learning How to Learn" and "Theory of Education", this book offers updated examples and his insights into how corporations, not just schools, can use his theory.

However, for those unfamiliar with Novak's past work, this book is revolutionary. He shows how the theories of behaviorism and positivism have led to an education system that, despite increasing expenditures, fail to teach children and instead encourages learning by rote. He goes on to show that knowledge is created by the learner, not caused by the teacher, not "poured into people's heads". He also addresses the emotional aspects of the educational "context" (his word).

This book is not just for educators. Anyone unfamiliar with Novak's work with Concept Maps, Knowledge Vees or the Constructivist philosophy will have a lot to gain from reading this book.

One annoyance: there are quite a number of passages that are repeated! I blame this on the editor, not the author. It doesn't take away from the message of the book, but it gives me the feeling that something else might have been missed.

Marking the culmination of Novak's 40-year career in science education, learning theory and epistemology, this book offers a remarkably insightful, theoretically powerful, and eminently readable volume on knowledge making in schools, corporations and healthcare agencies. The focus of Novak's work is on ways of empowering people to take charge of their own learning and knowledge creation. In this effort he succeeds most powerfully in integrating current ideas from the cognitive sciences, philosophy, psychology, neurophysiology, and educational practice.

But this book is not simply for professors and other members of the "intellectual elite." It is first and foremost a helpful guide to teachers, students, business managers and healthcare workers who want to succeed in the competitive arena of the "knowledge age."

Perhaps the most important contribution Novak makes is his careful description [and multiple examples] of concept mapping and V diagramming as tools for facilitating learning, understanding and knowledge creation. Unlike many "recipes" and "panaceas" offered by others, Novak cites numerous studies that provide very strong support for the use of these powerful "metacognitive" tools.

This book is an extraordinarily important contribution to efforts that seek to empower people to become meaningful learners and knowledge makers. It should be read by every college student, every teacher, and by all those charged with managing knowledge professionals.