Segment 5: Map & Compare

Now its time to convene all of the members of the interdisciplinary group. As with planning a workshop, you'll have some preparation to do beforehand. The session will cover a number of activities, but the main idea is to compare understandings of the key concepts from multiple disciplinary perspectives. To do this, you'll facilitate the group members to first graphically represent their conceptualizations, and then to make comparisons.

Tasks:

• Give the resource people all of the terminology lists, the lists by discipline and field and the compiled list. Ask for first impressions and comments on the lists. Do not steer this commentary in any particular direction, this activity is simply to capture initial reactions.
  
  
• Ask each person to construct his or her own visual map of the original concept(s) of interest. There are numerous techniques for creating graphic representations of cognitive landscapes; these tools are sometimes called "graphic organizers." Concept mapping is one such tool, and several resources on this tool are linked in the side bar. With whichever tool used, my personal preference is for each person to make a map large enough for a small group (7-10 people) to view on a wall.
  
  
• Post the maps and facilitate a discussion. While the course of the discussion will vary according to the goal and objectives of your project, and according to which mapping procedure you use, questions to pursue may include (See also Guides section):
  • Which of the terms appear to have different meaning across disciplines?
  • What ideas appear in common on multiple maps?
  • What's missing? What ideas of significance to the concept of interest do not appear on any of the maps?
  • What ideas are unique to only a single map?

The idea again is to look for patterns and gaps. Ask a couple of people (include yourself as one) to summarize today's findings.