Seventh Graders' Academic Achievement,Creativity, and Ability to Construct a Cross‐domain Concept Map — A Brain Function Perspective

This study proposes an interactive model of cross‐domain concept mapping with an emphasis on brain functions, and it further investigates the relationships between academic achievement, creative thinking, and cross‐domain concept mapping. Sixty‐nine seventh graders participated in this study which employed two 50–minute instructional sessions. The findings suggest that (a) the seventh graders may lack the awareness or ability to integrate knowledge and make connections between their learning and life experiences; (b) creative thinking, academic learning and concept mapping share similar capacities; and (c) cross‐domain concept mapping, which fosters cross‐domain information integration and connections between learning and life experiences, can be an efficient mental tool in understanding a student's creative thinking and academic learning.