There is a great variety of instruments to assess learning. Conceptual maps are questioned in this text, as one of these possibilities. The objectives of this study are to identify and analyze the advantages and limitations inherent to the use of conceptual maps as assessment instruments. In the study, especially the qualitative approach is used in a case study. It was carried out during the first semester of 2006, involving 32 3rd-year students of a pedagogy course at a public university in the state of Paraná. The research was based on a questionnaire, an interview and observation for data collection. The analysis of the material allowed us to determine the actual learning emerging from the experience, as well as the incidence of different aspects which might have facilitated or hindered the use of conceptual maps as assessment instruments. These aspects were analyzed, not as opposites, but as complementary and interdependent facets of the same phenomenon.
learning assessment; teachers' formation; assessment practices; conceptual map