TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE CONCEPT MAPPING SOFTWARE IN TEACHING DESCRIPTIVE WRITING TO STUDENTS WITH ATTENTION DEFICIT

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of the New Learning Technologies and specifically of the Concept Mapping Software (CM Tools) for the improvement of the descriptive writing regarding students in the secondary level of education identified with Attention Deficit. Student selection was based on a combination of tools, namely a questionnaire for teachers following the Greek Evaluation Scale (ADHD), the Stroop Test and the Trail Making Test. Students were then divided into two independent groups consisting of 32 and 34 students respectively and were taught the same educational material within two teaching hours. In the first group, the teaching procedure took place with the implementation of the New Learning Technologies, whereas in the latter without it. Subsequently, both groups were asked to produce descriptive writing. The results confirmed that the use of the New Learning Technologies and particularly of the Concept Mapping Software, which has been scientifically proved to contribute to the better assimilation of knowledge and to its maintenance in the long-term memory, renders the educational material much more understandable. Indeed, the overall performance of the students who had been taught with the specific software as well as the specific aspects of their performance, including organization, language and content, were substantially improved.