Engaging Students with Concept Mapping Activities

How to use Concept Mapping within a classroom:

Concept mapping would be useful in classrooms to use as an assessment to see if students understand a concept. One idea for this I could use in my classroom would be to have the students write out the procedures to adding fractions. This can also be expanded to subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions. Students could make a small concept map for each operation and then at the end of a large fraction unit make a large concept map of all the operations on fractions. You can also pre-assess the students through concept mapping by having students write down how they think a procedure should be done. Before teaching a fraction unit, the teacher can have their students make a concept map of how the operations on fractions might look. After the fraction unit, have the students create a concept map on how the operations are performed. Then the students can compare their concept maps to see if they were correct or what they would need to change.

Another idea to use in a classroom that I would teach would be to have students create a concept map on measurements and converting between units. The students can have links between the units that can be converted to each other. This could also work with another lesson where the subject links ideas or parts to different things.

Concept maps would also be useful when starting a research project. Students can write out the steps they need to take, materials needed and procedures they will need in order to do the project. They can then link things that go together to each other. It would be useful for them to know where to start, what they will need and be able to use as a guide during their researching.

Impact of Concept Mapping on Student Learning:
- Students being able to write out their thoughts in an outline type format that they can easily look at and find what they are looking for.
- Being able to show students how different topics, or sub-topics, are related/linked to each other.
- May help for those that are visual learners to visually see how topics are related.

Criteria to decide whether to use Concept Mapping in Lesson:
- If there are many concepts or procedures that link to each other, it may be useful to create a concept map to show how they are connected to each other.
- It would be useful to use a concept map that is on procedures to help students solve a problem that could be worked out in different ways. They can see how the procedure is done when working on a specific type of problem. For example when performing operations on fractions, do the fractions have common denominators? If yes, follow these links. If no, follow these links.