Sally Phillips on Technology Integration in the Classroom
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Sunday June 11, 2006
Blog #3 Concept Maps Lead to Understanding
If you are like me you are a visual learner. Most of the students to whom I have given a learning inventory have been visual learners too. So, why should I be so surprised when they can?t SEE the big picture of the course curriculum when I haven?t shown it to them? They can see the little pictures, but cannot see how they fit together?and have a hard time carrying one piece of information from one task to a related or similar task. It is frustrating for me when I know that for them to be successful in the course they need to be able to make these connections.
So?a strategy emerges?concept maps. I knew about them, but did not see how they could fit into my curriculum until now. A concept map?or semantic networking, if you prefer?is made up of a selection of text boxes, whose text relates to one another in some way. Some ideas relate to more than one other text box. Some relate to only one. By extending arrows from one text box to another, the viewer can automatically see the relationships of the ideas. Along the arrow another text box contains the phrase that links the two ideas. This is called the ?proposition statement.? As you begin to connect the ideas, a visual map is formed. In this case, a picture is worth a thousand words. With one glance anyone can see how the specific ideas are interrelated. There are several software programs that are used in schools that give students the opportunity to create concept maps. They include Inspiration, Cmap Tools (Internet based), Mind Mapper, SemNet, Learning Tool, and others.
What I have been enlightened by is the idea of making a visual representation of the relationships of the information that is presented in any unit of study. In my setting, especially in Apparel Development, my students are just interested in what they need to know to sew. They are not interested in understanding how one skill or piece of information relates to any other. Typical of the age? The frustrating end to all of this is that when the course is nearly over, some students cannot recall or connect previous learning to what they are doing at that moment. ?Huh?? is what I get from many of them. For students who cannot make these connections without some help, I think the concept map is a great tool. It would be nice to be able to do these on the computer, but I can think of interesting ways to do this the old fashion way?with paper, pencil, and maybe colored paper, scissors and glue. Most of my students love to work with these materials, so while they are having fun, they might accidentally be able to create the ?big picture.? I can see this as a tool for review by giving some basic concepts from precious weeks. If I were to have them map each unit, at some point I could have them draw the relationships from one unit to the other. Because this map would be growing and growing, it might be interesting to put it on a bulletin board, and let it grow as the class progresses. For some students this would be a very helpful tool, and a constant remind that facts don?t exist in all by themselves?they are related to other pieces of information to form a whole.
Posted at 10:26PM Jun 11, 2006 by PHILLIPS, SALLY in General | Comments[1]
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I like the concept mapping idea, too. I learned about it last year, but have yet to see it in action. Your class sounds like such a great opportunity for creative concept maps! As I read your post, I pictured students making a quilt that records their experiences in the course...
Really cool!
Joe
Posted by Joe Williams on June 12, 2006 at 07:23 PM EDT #