Concept Mapping as a Strategy for Addressing Misconceptions in Biology: A Scholarly Review
*1Salisu Magaji, 2Abdulkadir Ibrahim and 3Auwalu Yusuf
1&2Department of Science Education, Federal University Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State, Nigeria. Email: salisumagaji4@gmail.com
3Government Day Secondary School, Gumel, Jigawa State
Abstract
Misconceptions are persistent barriers to meaningful learning in Biology because students often enter classrooms with ideas formed through everyday experience, previous instruction, language and informal sources. Some of these ideas conflict with scientifically accepted explanations and can interfere with subsequent learning. Concept mapping provides a practical means of making students’ thinking visible by requiring them to identify concepts and represent relationships among them. This narrative review synthesizes empirical studies and meta-analytic evidence published primarily between 2020 and 2025 on concept mapping in Biology and related STEM education. Searches were conducted using ERIC, Google Scholar and accessible journal/publisher databases, with bibliographic details cross-checked against journal and indexing records. Studies were included when they reported empirical outcomes or directly examined misconceptions, conceptual understanding, achievement or retention. The evidence indicates that concept mapping can improve Biology achievement and retention and can help identify and reduce misconceptions. For example, Ogundare et al. (2020) reported remediation of 61.9% of identified Ecology misconceptions, while Demirci and Oktay (2021) found significant improvements in achievement and the elimination of misconceptions in protein synthesis. A 2025 meta-analysis of 37 STEM studies found a moderate overall effect of concept mapping on achievement (g = 0.630). The review concludes that concept mapping is not a universal cure, but a useful diagnostic, instructional and formative-assessment strategy. Its effectiveness is likely to be greatest when combined with questioning, discussion, practical activities and other conceptual-change approaches.
Keywords:concept mapping, misconceptions, Biology education, conceptual change, meaningful learning, retention, achievement
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