Concept mapping helps students organize complex information.
Mapping out the relationships between concepts helps educators and students organize knowledge. Concept maps are particularly helpful for visual learners; use this mapping technique for brainstorming activities, collaborative work, integrating a current lesson with previously learned knowledge and as a form of taking notes. Students enjoy creating concept maps by hand or with a computer program, and they will find this method useful for organizing complex information and multiple important concepts. Educators enjoy using concept maps to plan and deliver a lesson plan systematically.
Instructions
1. Gather information that will be organized in the concept map. This may require researching multiple sources. Determine the most important concepts that will be mapped in detail.
2. Consider an intuitive and effective way to map out the information connecting to the central concepts. Some information is presented best as a hierarchy with the information flowing down from the central concepts. Other information works best in either a spider or cluster format with information radiating in all directions from the central concepts.
3. If you are creating the concept map by hand, write the central concept or concepts on a page and enclose the concepts in a box or circle.
4. If using concept mapping software, follow the software's directions to enter the central concepts.
5. In an intuitive manner, write the concepts that directly relate to the central concepts around them. Enclose them in either a box or circle.
6. Draw arrows from the central concepts to the relating concepts. On each line of the arrows, concisely explain the relationship. For example, if the central concept is "President of the United States," a relating concept could be "White House," and the word "lives" connects them along the arrow. If the concept map's central concept is "Atom," a relating concept could be "Electron," and the word "includes" connects these concepts along the arrow.
7. Extend the concept map by writing additional relating concepts to all of the information currently on the map. Enclose in a box or circle and continue to connect with an arrow and explain the relationship.
8. Once the concept map is finished, evaluate its effectiveness in organizing and relaying information. Edit and improve the map, if necessary, to develop a more useful concept map.
Tags: central concepts, central concept, from central, from central concepts, along arrow, complex information