Novak's research focused on human learning, educational studies, and knowledge creation and representation. He has developed a theory of education to guide research and instruction, first published in 1977 and updated in 1998. His latest research work includes studies on students' ideas on learning and epistemology, and methods of applying educational ideas and tools in corporate settings and distance learning programs. Present work includes the development of "expert" concept maps to "scaffold" learning, using CMapping with Internet and other resources, providing A New Model for Education.
Concept mapping
Beginning in the 1970s, Novak and his research team at Cornell developed the technique of concept mapping as a means of representing the emerging science knowledge of students. It has subsequently been used as a tool to increase meaningful learning in the sciences and other subjects as well as to represent the expert knowledge of individuals and teams in education, government and business. Concept maps have their origin in the learning movement called constructivism. Educational constructivists hold that learners actively construct knowledge. In his book, Learning How to Learn, Novak states that "meaningful learning involves the assimilation of new concepts and propositions into existing cognitive structures." In his research, Novak taught students as young as six years old to make concept maps to represent their response to focus questions such as "What is water?" and "What causes the seasons?" Novak's work is based on the assimilation theory of cognitivist David Ausubel, who stressed the importance of prior knowledge in being able to learn new concepts. In his work, Novak presents concept mapping as a valuable tool for educators in assessing the structure of student conceptions, both before and after an educational experience.
Publications
Novak is author or coauthor of 27 books and more than 130 book chapters and papers in professional books and journals, among them:
1970. The improvement of biology teaching. Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill.
1973. A summary of research in science education for 1972. Columbus : Ohio State University, ERIC Information Analysis Center for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education.
1988. Teaching Science for Understanding. With J. Mintzes and J. Wandersee. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
1996. Aprendizaje Significativo: Técnicas y Aplicaciones. With Fermin M. González. Serie: Educación y Futuro #18. Madrid : Ediciones Pedagógicas.
1998. Learning, Creating, and Using Knowledge: Concept maps as facilitative tools for schools and corporations. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum & Assoc.
2000. Assessing Science Understanding. With J. Mintzes and J. Wandersee. San Diego, CA: Academic Press
2001. Errores Conceptuales: Diagnosis, Tratamiento Y Reflexiones. With Fermin González and Ciriaco Morón. Pamplona : Ediciones Eunate.
2004. Concept Maps: Theory, Methodology, Technology, Proceedings of the First International Conference on Concept Mapping, Pamplona, Spain . With A.J. Cañas, and Fermin M. González. Editorial Universidad Pública de Navarra.