Graphic Organizers Concept Maps

8/12/2019 Graphic Organizers Concept Maps

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Graphic Organizers / Concept Maps

Contents

What are concept maps and graphic organizers?

Why use concept maps and graphic organizers in your teaching?

A model process for concept mapping

Universal design considerations

Resources

What are concept maps and graphic organizers?

“Graphic organizer” is the more general category of the two; it refers to any

arrangement of visual features – typically combined with text – that represents the

relationships among concepts, ideas, facts, events, steps, or other items. Strangman,

et al, gives a variety of examples, including thematic map, comparative and contrastive

map, series of events chain, and problem-solution outline.

A concept map can be considered a type of graphic organizer that depicts relationships

of connection among concepts related to a particular topic or question. A typical

concept map uses shapes with words inside to denote main concepts, with other

shapes representing subtopics or ideas. Connections are drawn using lines or arrows,

whether within a cluster around a main idea or between items in different clusters.

These connectors may have labels specifying the nature of the relationship. The result

is a network that shows a set a relationships rather than just describing them, as a

written or spoken narrative does.

For a sample concept map, see the map of the faculty section of the DRS website, of

which this document is a part.

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http://www.temple.edu/studentaffairs/disability/faculty-resources.html






DRS: Graphic Organizers/Concept Maps Page 2

Why use concept maps and graphic organizers in your

teaching?

Experts in learning and cognition recommend integration of concept maps and other

graphic organizers into the mix of strategies used by educators at all levels.1 The most

robust learning and retention of information comes about when students encounter

information in both verbal and visual-spatial modalities. A concept map represents

information in both ways simultaneously. In addition, giving students the task of working

with information through the creation of their own concept maps helps them learn: it

requires them to organize information in a meaningful way and to demonstrate the

relationships they perceive among the ideas (and/or among those ideas and what they

already know).2

According to Joseph Novak and Alberto Cañas, the human brain remembers

information by organizing it into hierarchical structures; since concept mapping requires

the intentional construction of this “scaffold,” it helps individuals to learn better,

remember more, and apply what they have learned in novel situations. It is also an

effective way to get students to practice higher-order thinking skills like synthesis and

evaluation, and is useful as an assessment method for these skills. 3

Susan Ambrose recommends assigning students to construct concept maps for several

different purposes:

1. To express what they already know coming into the course or into a new unit;

this will help the instructor to diagnose misconceptions or gaps in prior

knowledge.

2. To show development of their thinking over the course of the semester;

3. To organize what they are learning about a particular topic in order to answer

a specific question about it.

Concept maps and other graphic organizers can be useful tools for helping students

reach a range of learning objectives. For example, flow charts help students

1 For example, Susan Ambrose, How Learning Works Jossey-Bass, 2010: 228-30

(TU Library); Diane F. Halpern and Milton D. Hakel, “Applying the Science ofLearning,” Change (July/August 2003): 39; and Nicole Strangman, Tracey Hall,and Anne Meyer , “Graphic Organizers and Implications for Universal Design forLearning: Curriculum Enhancement Report,” National Center for Accessing theGeneral Curriculum, 2003.

2 Halpern and Hakel, 39.3 Novak and Cañas, 7, 13.




conceptualize the steps in a process and the possible permutations of that process

under certain conditions. Comparative and contrastive maps highlight simultaneously

what two entities, accounts, or theories have in common and where they diverge. For

complex, non-hierarchical relationships, spider maps offer an effective way to visualize

the components and connections. Graphic organizers, when created by instructors,

may accomplish different purposes than those that students construct (either from

scratch or from an initial list of topics or template for organization).

Research studies in the full range of educational contexts largely confirm the benefits of

graphic organizers for learning. For example, Nicole Strangman, et al, report that most

studies they and other authors reviewed found that using graphic organizers to support

learning from texts (reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition) resulted in

statistically significant learning benefits for students with a disability as well as for those

without a disability.4 Postsecondary students appear to gain the most from the use of

graphic organizers for learning from texts.5

The research suggests several conditions that tend to maximize the benefits of graphic

organizers:

1. Constructing or viewing a graphic organizer after reading the material has a

greater effect than if a graphic organizer is used in a pre-reading activity6;

2. Learning gains depend to a large degree on the training and guidance the

instructor gives students in using graphic organizers. This includes:

the instructor’s modeling the task the students will be doing;

explanations of what the tool is and why the instructor is incorporatingit in this way;

chances to practice using/constructing graphic organizers and toreceive explicit feedback; and

for teacher-created organizers, verbal explanations of the relationshipsdepicted, invitations for student input, and activities involving decodingand analysis.

7

Finally, it is worth considering presenting course information or instructions for

assignments in two or more alternative forms: conventional text, perhaps also in audio

form; and graphic organizer. For instance, a concept map of the entire course may help

4 Strangman, et al, 5-10.

5 Ibid., 7.6 Ibid., 8.7 Ibid., 8-9.




at least some students see more clearly the big picture of the learning objectives,

activities, assignments, and assessments outlined in the syllabus. This can boost

motivation and lead to greater commitment on the students’ part. (The act of creating

the map will probably also help you, the instructor, clarify what exactly you and the

students will be doing and why.) Presenting a major assignment, such as a term paper

or a lab project, in graphic form can help students see the importance of following the

steps as specified, observing the time limits, and producing what is called for at each

stage.

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A model process for concept mapping

Novak and Cañas offer a set of simple steps that will guide you and your students in

constructing a concept map.

1. Formulate a focus question that the map will answer.

2. Brainstorm the main concepts, themes, or other elements that have a

role in answering the focus question.

3. Place these main concepts, etc., on the side of the workspace (the

“parking lot”). You may use post-it notes if working by hand, or a list if

using a computer tool.

4. Build a preliminary map by moving items from the parking lot to the map,grouping key words and related subtopics together. Move things around

to get the best representation of the relationships.

5. Look at the map and decide which elements in different clusters have

significant connections, and draw those connections.

6. Treat the map as a work-in-progress. Add concepts; shift others around;

draw new connections.

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Universal design considerations

The UDL implications of concept maps differ according to how faculty deploy them.




Access to instructor-generated maps

Although maps that you create can be a very effective way to convey ideas and model

ways of thinking for students, you should always provide a text-based or verbal

alternative to any concept map. This is because any student who uses assistive

technologies that read documents aloud will have one of two types of problems with a

concept map:

a. The map will be in image-format that screen readers and text-to-speech software

can’t recognize; or

b. If you save a digital version in an accessible text format (e.g., RTF or tagged

PDF), the reading software will probably not render the map intelligibly, given its

specific purpose. For instance, it may read straight across, and will not

differentiate between text inside the concept-shapes and text on the link-lines.

Likewise, the software will not be able to figure out how to read items in one

cluster or domain together unless you insert a read-order in the HTML code ofthe file.

Some commercial concept mapping software allows a user to extract the text into an

outline, but this form does not convey all the information the map itself does.

Your all-text alternative should capture the visual-spatial component of the map.

Describe each cluster with its internal connections, then note the cross-connections as

well. You may provide this information in either a text document or an audio file, or

both.

Assigning students to create maps

There are many learning objectives toward which students can make progress by

constructing concept maps. However, keep in mind that blind/low vision students will

face particular challenges in representing their ideas visually and in space, especially on

a computer. Discuss the activity with your student(s): Explain your purposes for

assigning a concept map, and explore possible methods to accomplish it. For example,

are there three-dimensional materials s/he could use? Is this a collaborative activity in

which a sighted student could build the map according to the insights of both/all

participants?

One distinguishing feature of UDL is flexibility: as much as possible, students will be

able to choose among options that are engaging and that allow them to demonstrate the

full extent of their knowledge. Concept mapping can pose barriers to some students

with a disability, as we have seen, but it can also appeal quite strongly to other

students, including those with strong visual-spatial skills, some individuals with ADHD or

Asperger syndrome, or those who don’t enjoy or do well at narrative writing. Therefore,




if the skills or knowledge you seek to assess can be measured using concept mapping,

consider including that as an option for the product you will assess.

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Resources

Clark, Chris. “Ten concept mapping tools.” NspireD2: Blog site of the Kaneb Center atNotre Dame. Contains links to free concept mapping software and to severalcommercial programs.

Clark, Chris. “Best Tools and Practices for Concept Mapping.” NspireD2: Blog site of theKaneb Center at Notre Dame. This article offers a concise and informativeoverview of the benefits and ways to use concept mapping in the classroom;includes a helpful video (6.5 min.).

Merlot ELIXR offers a video case story of a business education professor who includedflow-charting as a universal design feature of her course.

Novak, Joseph D. and Alberto Cañas. “The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and Howto Construct and Use Them.” Technical Report IHMC Cmap Tools 2006-01 Rev01-2008. One author, Novak, is a creator of Cmap mapping software, a freedownloadable application. This article includes a section that explains andpromotes the software. However, the research-based conceptual frameworkpresented in the article stands on its own and makes the article well worthreading.

Strangman, Nicole, Tracey Hall, and Anne Meyer , “Graphic Organizers and Implications

for Universal Design for Learning: Curriculum Enhancement Report.” NationalCenter for Accessing the General Curriculum, 2003.

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http://ltlatnd.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/ten-popular-concept-mapping-tools/



http://ltlatnd.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/best-tools-and-practices-for-concept-mapping/



http://elixr.merlot.org/case-stories/understanding--meeting-students-needs/universal-design-for-learning-udl/flowcharting-in-business-education3



http://cmap.ihmc.us/Publications/ResearchPapers/TheoryUnderlyingConceptMaps.pdf




http://aim.cast.org/learn/historyarchive/backgroundpapers/graphic_organizers_udl











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Graphic Organizers Concept Maps