Phenomenological investigation of teachers' lived experiences of teaching with a conceptual map

Concept maps are one of the teaching and learning strategies that bring meaningful learning to the learner by activating them. The research aim was to identify, explain and phenomenologically analyze teachers' lived experiences with using the conceptual map on instruction. The research approach was qualitative and phenomenological. The research population was the teachers in the second section of the elementary school in Birjand city, who participated in the research through a semi-structured interview through purposeful criterion-based sampling. The interviews were continued until the theoretical saturation was reached. Then, data was examined using the seven-step Claysey methodology. After removing similar items and formulating concepts, the results led to the extraction of 600 sub-concepts. The results were classified under four main categories and 12 subcategories. The main categories focus on four areas: 1) education, 2) learning, 3) design and program and 4) evaluation. Utilizing concept maps in teaching and emphasizing student-centeredness and using the capacity of groups and working groups can help learners in the growth and development of students' creativity and achieve sustainable and deep learning, and also increase the effectiveness of teachers' teaching