Concept Maps: An Education Super Tool
Discover what sets concept maps apart from other visual diagrams and why they are so useful for both learning and assessment
8 minutes
An educator's innovation
Concept maps were created by an educator, scientist, and researcher named Joseph D. Novak.
Joe and his team at Cornell developed concept mapping to help enable meaningful learning—the idea that learning is the process of connecting new knowledge with prior knowledge.
Since then, research from around the world has shown how concept mapping helps improve the way people learn and think.
Concept maps can be used for numerous purposes, including:
- Engaging higher-order thinking skills
- Knowledge assessment
- Driving personalized learning and targeted instruction
- Capturing and sharing knowledge, particularly expert knowledge
- Representing complex information at a glance
- Helping with teamwork and collaboration
Sero!’s founder has advanced these uses and even wrote a book about them with Joe and other respected colleagues.
Yet despite the powerful cognitive benefits of concept mapping, too few people are putting them to use in education.
We aim to change that!
What, exactly, are concept maps?
Not to be confused with "mind maps"
Many people are familiar with mind maps and other block and line diagrams. But there are important differences between those and concept maps:
Mind maps are radial, block-and-line diagrams used for brainstorming and idea organization.
They suggest general connections between various ideas by using labeled boxes or circles connected with linking lines.
Concept maps are meaningful diagrams used to construct mental models of knowledge. They are often designed to answer a focus question.
Concept maps indicate specific relationships between various concepts using structured statements, called propositions.
What chiefly sets concept maps apart from mind maps is use of clear and precise relationships between concepts.
More clarity and precision creates more accurate, meaningful, and insightful information.
The anatomy of a proposition
Just as sentences are the building blocks of essays, propositions are the building blocks of concept maps—and thus, of knowledge.
Propositions include four key components: two concepts joined together by directional links and a linking phrase.
Concepts are typically noun-like phrases people—places, things, ideas, or events.
They are concisely-worded and as specific as is relevant and necessary in a particular map.
The examples below are all valid concepts:
- cattle ranchers
- the Atlantic Ocean during wintertime
- hospital admittance procedures
- boiling point
Linking phrases almost always contain a verb and are typically no more than five words long.
They may also include helping verbs, modifiers, prepositions, and/or articles to adequately describe the relationship between two concepts.
The examples below are all valid linking phrases:
- causes
- is a type of
- i.e.,
- is the reason why
- can sometimes be used for
The structure of a proposition is:
concept — linking phrase → concept.
Example: The Earth — revolves around → the sun
The second linking line should always contain an arrow to show the proposition’s directionality—that is, the order in which it should be read.
Read in order, each proposition should be a coherent and independent statement about the world.
The importance of "focus questions"
Everything in the universe is related to some degree, so without constraints concept maps can become infinitely large and complex.
Focus questions help establish context for what information a concept map should include.
Research has shown that different focus questions can inspire different concept map structures, even within the same subject.
Consider the differences between the following questions:
- What are the parts of the solar system?
- How do parts of the solar system affect life on Earth?
The first question is static and will most likely elicit definition-based relationships between concepts.
The second question is dynamic and more likely to elicit a structure that shows the systemic nature of how concepts are related.
One tool, many cognitive uses
MANY valuable applications and outcomes follow from the basic structure and process of concept mapping.
Here are a few more:
Metacognition
Concept maps naturally compel learners to examine their own thought processes and consider their knowledge strengths and weaknesses.
Holistic thinking
By presenting information as interconnected pieces of a bigger picture, concept maps help learners contextualize and comprehend the greater significance of individual facts.
Assessment FOR learning
While traditional multiple-choice tests tend to activate low-level memorization and guessing skills, concept mapping engages higher-order analytic, evaluative, and creative thinking skills.
This offers deeper insights into learners’ knowledge strengths and weaknesses and turns assessment into a learning opportunity.
Next, you’ll learn a simple four-step process to create concept maps for a variety of learning and assessment purposes.
Recap
- Concept maps are a research-based educational tool with many benefits.
- The specificity in how concept maps define relationships between concepts sets them apart from mind maps.
- Concept maps activate powerful and diverse cognitive skills that engage learners and offer assessors deep insights into their thinking.
Read Next
4 Steps to Creating a Good Concept Map
This short step-by-step guide will help you craft clear and cohesive concept maps for teaching, learning, and assessment
References
Moon, B., Hoffman, R. R., Novak, J., & Cañas, A. (Eds.). (2011). Applied concept mapping: Capturing, analyzing, and organizing knowledge. CRC Press.
Novak, J. D., & Cañas, A. J. (2006). The theory underlying concept maps and how to construct them. Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, 1(1), 1-31.