Concept Mapping

General

Concept mapping is a cognitivist learning model developed by Joseph Novak and his colleagues in 1972 as they worked on understanding how children's knowledge of science changes1) Novak, J. D., & Musonda, D. A Twelve-Year Longitudinal Study of Science Concept Learning. American Educational Research Journal, 28(1), 117-153. 1991. . First mind maps were proposed by some other authors as well2) Stewart, J., Van Kirk, J., & Rowell, R. Concept maps: A tool for use in biology teaching. American Biology Teacher, 41(3), 171-175. 1979. , concept maps in their almost final form were introduced by Novak in 19813) Novak, J. Applying learning psychology and philosophy to biology teaching. The American Biology Teacher, 43(1), 12 – 20. 1981. . In Novak's words, concept map is “a visual representation of the relationships between concepts held by an individual, materials of a lecture, textbook, or laboratory exercise”4) Novak, J. D. Introduction to concept mapping. . Novak's works are based on Ausubel's assimilation theory.

What is concept mapping?

Concept maps should help both sides in the educational process to learn more meaningfully.

Novak describes the concept map building process in following steps:

Identification of key concepts of the material

Ranking the concepts by placing most important ones at the top of the map

Adding other concepts under the main ones

Connection of concepts by lines and labeling those connections with linking words

If desired specific examples of concepts can also be added below concept labels

An example of a concept map about concept maps can be found here.

Bibliography

Novak, J. D. Introduction to concept mapping.

Novak, Joseph D. & Cañas, Alberto J. The Origin and Development of Concept Maps