Explanation of Concept Mapping

A Concept Map is a visual representation illustrating how the creator understands relationships between concepts. The concepts can be any combination of things, people, ideas, arguments, solutions, places, etc. Concept mapping moves the learner from simply recalling facts to understanding relationships between ideas. It encourages more complex and meaningful thinking.

Explanation of how I use Concept Mapping

This lesson highlights some of my students' concept maps. Concept mapping is a form of note taking that requires students to create visual connections to ideas or concepts. While the project may take longer than more formal notes on a lecture (I give my students an hour and a half per concept) students retain information more clearly and have a deeper understanding of concepts. I think that this video can be a useful tool if you want to introduce concept mapping to your classroom. While all of these examples are done with pencil and paper, I now have students using Photoshop to create their concept maps.

Mind Maps from O'Dea on Vimeo.