Table of Contents

Satellite Communications

Space Age Telecommunications in Canada

Extensions

Students build a timeline of historical events based on the Canadian Telecommunications History given in the Teacher Background.

Assessment

Concept maps that are used at the beginning of a unit to assess the students' pre-instructional knowledge should not be graded. Students need to feel comfortable putting down ideas on paper.

However, if the concept maps are to be used to assess students' understanding of the material, they can be assessed using a teacher-developed scoring rubric. The criteria used to develop a concept map scoring rubric may include any of the following parameters:

1. Number of relevant concepts: use this parameter if the students have been expected to provide the majority of the concepts for the map. The teacher provides the overarching topic concept and one or two seed concepts to get students going. The number of relevant concepts can simply be counted or the concepts can be weighted with the broader ones receiving more points.
   
   
2. Number of valid propositions: This is particularly important to look at when assessing concept maps because it indicates understanding relationships among concepts. Each should be scientifically correct. Propositions can be weighted differently depending upon the importance the teacher ascribes to the relationship.
   
   
3. Branching: This parameter recognises the progressive differentiation of concepts. A branch is created when a concept at one level in the hierarchy is connected to one or more at the next level. Again instances of branching can be weighted equally or differently depending oh the teacher's objectives.
   
   
4. Number of appropriate cross-links: This parameter allows for assessing the maps on the degree of integrative and meaningful connections between the vertical sections of the concept hierarchy.
   
   
5. Number of examples of specific concepts: Including examples that allow students to root the concepts in their conceptual understanding. It will also assess whether they can identify objects or events represented by the concept labels.
   
   

Examples:

Telecommunication Satellites Social Implications

Telecommunication Satellite Systems Components