2.1.)+Semantic+organization+tools

= = = **//__Semantic Organization Tools __//** = = Semantic organization tools help learners to analyze and organize what they know or what they are learning. Two of the best known semantic organization tools are databases and semantic networking (concept mapping) tools. =

== **__Databases ____. __** **Database management systems are computerized record keeping systems ** that were developed originally to replace paper-based filing systems. These electronic filing cabinets allow users to store information in organized databases that facilitates retrieval. Content is broken down into records that are divided into fields, which describe the kind of information in different parts of each record. == == **Databases can be used as tools for analyzing and organizing subject matter (i.e. ** Mindtools). The database shown in Figure 1 was developed by students studying cells and their functions in a biology course. The database can then be searched and sorted to answer specific questions about the content or to identify interrelationships and inferences from the content, such as "Do different shaped cells have specific functions?" Constructing content databases requires learners to develop a data structure, locate relevant information, insert it in appropriate fields and records, and search and sort the database to answer content queries. A large number of critical thinking skills are required to use and construct knowledge-oriented databases. == =    = **Figure 1. Content database.** =  =  == **__Semantic Networking. __**Semantic networking tools provide visual screen tools for producing concept maps. Concept mapping is a study strategy that requires learners to draw visual maps of concepts connected to each other via lines (links). These maps are spatial representations of ideas and their interrelationships that are stored in memory, i.e. structural knowledge (Jonassen, Beissner, & Yacci, 1 993). Semantic networking programs are computer-based, visualizing tools for developing representations of semantic networks in memory. Programs such as SemNet, == == Learning Tool, Inspriation, Mind Mapper, and many others, enable learners to interrelate the ideas that they are studying in multidimensional networks of concepts, to label the relationships between those concepts, and to describe the nature of the relationships between all of the ideas in the network, such as that in Figure 2. == <span style="color: #231f20; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;"> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="margin-left: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: left; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;"> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> ==<span style="margin-left: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: left; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The purpose of semantic networks is to represent the structure of knowledge that someone has constructed. So, creating semantic networks requires learners to analyze the structural relationships among the content they are studying. By comparing semantic networks created at different points in time, they can also be used as evaluation tools for assessing changes in thinking by learners. If we agree that is a semantic network is a meaningful representations of memory, then learning from this perspective can be thought of as a reorganization of semantic memory. Producing semantic networks reflect those changes in semantic memory, since the networks describe what learners know. Therefore, semantic networking programs can be use to reflect the process of knowledge construction. ==
 * <span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">It is important to remember that the goal of successfully using mindtools is to incorporate basic, creative and complex thinking skills, while using the database and its functions in conjunction with the lesson being taught to stimulate learning. <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> **