You may have used a concept map in a class project, or to take notes — but are you using this tool to its full potential?
Concept mapping can help you develop knowledge structures, assess your understanding of content and review for exams.
Daniel Levitin, a famous cognitive psychologist, said, “In a world awash with information, the ability to synthesize and map concepts is the compass that guides us through the sea of knowledge.”
Concept maps were developed by Joseph Novak at Cornell University in 1984. They’re a visual organization technique to has two main components: nodes representing concepts and links showing relationships among concepts.
In the following image, topics, subtopics, and details are the nodes; the lines between them are the
Example of a concept map for lecture notes: The top node is labelled with the lecture topic. The lecture topic node is connected by lines to three other nodes that are labelled with lecture subtopics. Each lecture subtopic is connected by lines to three additional nodes for subtopic details.
How to use a concept map
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Concept mapping can be used to take organized notes during lectures. It can also be used while you’re studying to help you build logic and internal relations.
Find concept mapping useful? Download the concept map worksheet and draw your own map.