Concept Mapping

What: Concept maps were developed in the early 1970s by Joseph Novak as a part of his research that focused on change in students' understanding of science. Novak found out that it was challenging to track the change in students' knowledge of science through conducting interviews; thus he created the concept mapping tool to better research students' conceptual understanding of science.

To create a concept map students place concepts in boxes and show the relationship among concepts by connecting lines that link the concepts. Students also write a linking word on the connecting line that describes the relationship between the concepts.

Concept maps can be constructed on paper or electronically. Concept mapping software (i.e., CMap Tools {link], Inspiration) allows students to represent their learning virtually. Electronic maps are better since students can (1) organize or restructure their maps easily (2) collaborate with others; (3) embed visuals and audio into maps, and (4) store maps on servers and can access them anytime.

Why: Concept maps are learning and assessment tools. They are meaningful learning tools since they help students to connect their existing knowledge to new knowledge.

Concept maps are also effective formative assessment tools for science teachers. Teachers can easily assess students' prior knowledge about a concept through analyzing students' pre-instruction concept maps. Also, by asking students to develop maps following instruction, teachers can track changes of student learning.

Research: The effectiveness of concept mapping on student achievement has been reported in many studies (e.g., Horton, et.al., 1993). Concept maps represent student knowledge and the level of cognitive understanding of the concepts that they study.

Best Practices: There are several ways to structure a concept map. Thus, it is important for science teachers to demonstrate how to create a concept map before asking students to actually create one. While some concept mapping software programs can be user friendly, students may need some guidance to fully understand how they operate. If teachers ask students to construct maps in groups, they should pay attention to the level of participation of each student. CMap Tools, for example, allow teachers to see the contribution of each student in a group.

Students may be asked to construct concept maps on various concepts such as climate change, evolution, energy, the classification of matter, electricity, genetics, ecology etc. Depending on the ability and needs of students and their previous experiences with concept mapping, teachers may provide students with 5-10 concepts to construct a map or students may be asked to choose concepts to include in a map.

Example: [link to one]