Literacy Practice: Concept Map
Directions for teachers:
What is the strategy? Concept maps are graphic organizers that help students organize information and connect important ideas, concepts and terms. They can take many forms, but all focus on the relationships between concepts. One standard form of concept maps has circles containing concepts and lines or arrows between circles that represent the connections between concepts. Words can be written on the connecting lines to specify how the concepts are related.
When can this strategy be used? Concept maps can be used at the beginning of a unit to assess students’ existing knowledge. They can also be used throughout a unit to show the growth in students’ understanding. Concept maps can be paired with reading. For instance, students can take notes on key terms they notice while reading and then organize them into a concept map when they’re finished. Or, if students are already familiar with a topic, they could create a concept map before doing a reading and then revise it based on new knowledge they’ve learned.
Why does this strategy benefit students? For visual learners especially, concept maps are useful for making connections between existing and new knowledge and for seeing the bigger picture. They also help to break down complex topics, increase understanding and reading retention, and provide students with a strategy for critical thinking.
Want to explore additional information about the literacy strategy?
Explore more about using concept maps as an assessment tool on Carnegie Mellon University’s website and about concept maps in general on Cornell University’s website. Download three blank concept map templates here.
Directions for students:
Use the following template when reading a Science News or Science News Explores article. Follow the steps below to create your concept map. Concept maps are graphic organizers that place a main idea in a box, circle or other shape located in the center of the map. Other ideas surround that main idea, with each idea placed in its own shape. Each of these concepts should be a word or phrase — not lengthy sentences. If you find you are writing several sentences, see if you can break these into different concepts or find a category or topic that summarizes the sentences. A line connects the shapes, showing relationships between the main idea and the other topics. To define the connection, you can include a word that explains the relationship between the terms. Try to keep your map on one sheet of paper. Feel free to revise as you learn more!
- While reading the article, write down terms you come across that you recognize or terms that you think are important.
- Once you’ve finished reading, choose one of those terms to be the main concept that you use to create your concept map. Put that term in the big circle in the middle.
- Write down related terms that you know. Group the related terms and any other terms from the article that you wrote down into topics.
- Write the related terms in the smaller circles and draw lines to connect the circles to show how the terms are related.
- Optional: Write words on the lines to explain the relationship between the terms.
Example using a Science News Explores article:
Title of article: Move over Iron Man, exoskeletons are getting real
Main terms: exoskeleton, metals, alloys, batteries, inertia, robots.
Related terms (to exoskeleton): wearable device, armor, rigid materials, moveable joints, springs, dampers, outside skeleton, invertebrates, molting.
