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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). First concept maps were, however, proposed by some other authors as well2), but concept maps in their fullest form were introduced by Novak in 19813). 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. By concept mapping even old and familiar material, we often recognize new relationships and meaning.”4) Novak's works were influenced by David Ausubel's assimilation theory.
Concept mapping presents the process of building concept maps. In order to successfully build concept maps, their terminology needs to be clarified. Novak defines concepts as patterns or regularities in objects (things) or events (happenings).5)
For example, the concept “dog” is formed by a set of common characteristics of dogs. “Chihuahua”, a specific kind of dog, would here be an object. Every person has a different “dog” concept since the set of common characteristics forming it may vary from person to person and generally depends on experience, context and perspective. Still, these concepts are usually similar enough to enable people to successfully communicate and think in terms of concepts and change them over time.
Concepts maps were first meant to be used in science education. Today they are used in other areas as well, as they can help both teachers and students. Concepts maps help a teacher identify and organize concepts he is about to teach. Concept maps drawn by the students give teachers insight to what the students already know, so he knows what should be learned next. Learning is manifested by adding new concepts to the existing framework of the concept map. This process is, according to Novak6), often accompanied by positive feelings. Concepts maps also give students ability to organize and asses their own knowledge.
Novak describes the concept map building process in following steps:
An example of a concept map about concept maps can be found here.
A very important property of concept maps is that learning through adding new concept to them is inherently meaningful learning, since it establishes clear connections with the existing knowledge. Rote learning on the other hand is the result of lack of established connections to prior knowledge and forgetting of the learned information in 4-6 weeks7).
Novak, J. D. Introduction to concept mapping.
Novak, Joseph D. & Cañas, Alberto J. The Origin and Development of Concept Maps