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Inspiration: The Road to Concept Mapping

Inspiration: The Road to Concept Mapping. Shuyan Wang, Ph.D. Department of Technology Education College of Education and Psychology The University of Southern Mississippi. What is Concept Mapping. Concept Mapping: is a way of representing or organizing knowledge

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Inspiration: The Road to Concept Mapping

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  1. Inspiration: The Road to Concept Mapping Shuyan Wang, Ph.D. Department of Technology Education College of Education and Psychology The University of Southern Mississippi MECA 2009 conference at Jackson, February 17 - 19, 2009

  2. What is Concept Mapping Concept Mapping: • is a way of representing or organizing knowledge • is a visual graphic that represents how the creator thinks about a subject, topic, etc. • identifies the way we think • illustrates how knowledge is organized for the individual

  3. What is Concept Mapping (cont.) • It showsthe relationships between concepts, including bi-directional relationships • It is divided into nodes and links • Nodes (often circles) represent various concepts • Links (lines) represent the relationships between concepts • Linking Words are used to label the links in order to explain the relationships

  4. Why Concept Mapping • To generate ideas (brain storming, etc.) • To design a complex structure (long texts, hypermedia, large Websites, etc.) • To communicate complex ideas • To aid learning by explicitly integrating new and old knowledge • To assess understanding or diagnose misunderstanding

  5. Why Concept Mapping (cont.) Concept mapping is an excellent planning device for instruction because it: • helps teachers select appropriate instructional materials • visually explains the conceptual relationships used for meeting lesson objectives • illustrate areas that may appear minor or trivial • articulates the themes that teachers want to emphasize

  6. Why Concept Mapping (cont. 2) Concept mapping helps teachers • understand how students see or organize knowledge differently from themselves • identify concepts that are related to more than one discipline • know what they want their students to learn

  7. Why Concept Mapping (cont. 3) Concept mapping: • provides a basis for discussion among students and helps summarize general course concepts • supports a holistic style of learning • sustains meaningful learning • assists in collaborative learning

  8. Why Concept Mapping (cont. 4) • Student made concept maps • allow teachers to see how students structure their knowledge and comprehend a subject of study • help teachers identify missing or misunderstood concepts • Teacher made concept maps • enable students to identify and explore the structure and nature of domain knowledge presented by the teacher • help students identify new concepts and relate them to concepts that are already understood

  9. Steps in Making Maps • Write down major terms or concepts about a topic • Identify the most general, intermediate, and specific concepts • Begin drawing the concept map: • Concepts are circled • Place the most general concepts at the top • Place intermediate concepts below general concepts • Put specific concepts on bottom • Draw lines between related concepts • Label the lines with "linking words" to indicate how the concepts are related • Revise the map

  10. Some Tips • Use a top down approach, working from general to specific or use a free association approach by brainstorming nodes and then develop links and relationships • Use different colors/shapes for nodes & links to identify different types of information • Use different colored nodes to identify prior and new information • Use a cloud node to identify a question • Gather information for a question in the question node

  11. Examples in Language Art Inspiration helps students bridge the gap between visual and verbal modes of expression as they brainstorm, draft and revise their writing. Students simply switch to Outline View to begin writing an essay.

  12. Examples in Social Studies In social studies classes, Inspiration helps students explore historical events and people, as well as understand cause and effect relationships.

  13. Examples in Math Inspiration visually explains concepts like Addition and Multiplication, making difficult math problems easier to comprehend.

  14. Examples in Planning Teacher PlanningInspiration is used to plan class projects, activities, lessons, and units. Visual diagrams make it easier to understand and share a process. Student PlanningStudents can use Inspiration to plan speeches, presentations and projects. Hyperlinking to a file or site makes Inspiration a great choice for creating student portfolios.

  15. Examples in Planning

  16. Resources • Concept Mapping, http://www.cotf.edu/ete/pbl2.html • The Concept Mapping Homepage, http://users.edte.utwente.nl/lanzing/cm_home.htm • Concept Mapping software, http://www.inspiration.com/ • A Video on Inspiration Introduction, Examples, and a QuickTour, http://www.inspiration.com/test/dswmedia/intro.html • Examples for Inspiration Integration into the Classroom, http://www.inspiration.com/productinfo/inspiration/using_insp/index.cfm

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