Measuring the Similarity of Concept Maps According to Pedagogical Criteria

A concept map provides a graphic hierarchical means of representing how knowledge isstructured in a domain. It visually organizes a set of concepts showing their mutual relations. An analysisof the similarities between two concept maps can produce significant results in any fields where IntelligentKnowledge Management is used, such as Healthcare, Policy Development, Energy and Waste Management,Resource Consumption Sustainability, Mobility, Safety, Citizen Empowerment, and, of course, Education.In an educational setting, a concept map conveys the various concepts connected by relations of dependencethat a course must cover. However, the similarity between two concept maps for education has to be measuredaccording to criteria that take into consideration the pedagogical properties of the maps, i.e., not onlyconsidering the structural aspects of the maps themselves. An automated analysis of the similarity betweentwo concept maps can allow the teacher to reflect on different interpretations of the knowledge domain ofa certain course as well as to assess how existing learning material can be implemented in a new course.Research into this aspect of concept mapping appears to be relatively scarce. This paper proposes criteria toassess the similarity of two concept maps, also based on pedagogical features, with the aim of providingteachers with better support during the course creation process. Each criterion is implemented througha specific measure function. The measures are then shown to be sensitive to their criterion rationale byevaluating them against a collection of random case studies