I think that a concept map is a great way for kids to understand easily a concept or project. From reading these articles, even though it may be more work for me, I think that as a teacher I will use concept maps to explain things to my students. I could also have the students make their own concept maps which would help them to understand what they were learning better and also prove to me that they understand what they are learning about. Concept makes just make it clearer for the children to understand and see what they are learning. It also helps those children who learn visually to get the idea. It appeals to all different learning styles.

Edited by author 02-11-2003 01:10 AM
After actually creating a concept map, I have found that they are a lot of fun (from a teacher's standpoint, that is)! There are so many ways teachers can use them to teach a subject, like worksheets, presentations, games, etc. I remember using concept maps in elementary school, but not as advanced as the ones from Inspiration are. My teacher simply drew the bubbles and lines and we had to fill the answers in. I never really liked brainstorming, but with this program, I think kids will definitely be more interested in it. Using concept maps is a great way for teachers to organize their thoughts and lesson plans in creative and fun ways. A great assignment would be to have the children make their own concept map and present it their classmates. I hope I have this available when I'm a teacher- it's so useful!

I enjoyed the readings very much. I think that the concept maps are a great tool that every teacher should know about and use in their classroom. They provide a wonderful way to explain and break apart texts to a level where just about anyone can understand. Which is a good thing for some students who might not have a very good grasp on a certain subject. It also makes learning more fun and attractive for the students. You can get so creative when making a concept map by using different colors, icons, and shapes. When I have my own class in the future I hope to be able to purchase this program to make learning more fun and effective for my kids. I never realized until having to put together my own concept map and lesson plan how helpful they really were. When I was growing up they were always just more work for me to do. But with Inspiration, it made it fun. Nothing like when I was doing them before.

Edited by author 02-11-2003 12:11 AM
Concept mapping is a terrific way to organize ideas in an effective way to minimize confusion. It also shows how ideas are related to one another and is visually stimulative so it would be attractive and easy to understand. Concept map is a neater and organized version of brainstorming. Thus, I feel that effectively combining conceptual mapping into the cirruculum should help learning fun and easier to understand. I have never used these in the past, but it seems a great idea to use within different lessons.

Edited by author 02-10-2003 09:34 PM
I thought that concept mapping even though it can take up time it is a good way of showing the students how things are related. I thought that it was great concept to take into consideration when teaching and trying to visually show relationships of a certain topic. I in the past have had to make concept maps and i think that it is a great way for the kids to learn and have some fun doing it work.

I really enjoyed the readings. I think that these concept maps are a great idea. The children become more familar with the computers and learn at the same time. They are a very neatly arranged way of expressing ideas. They show the children what they actually need to learn, but in a fun way. These maps have pictures, words, and colors. The maps can show relationships between different topics and make it easier for the children to read and understand.

Concept mapping is such a great thing. I know that when I am a teacher I am definately going to use cluster maps to help teach my students. It is an awesome strategy for a teacher and for a student to use. I also like the idea of other people adding to another person's map cluster. In those types of activities everyone learns about different subjects. In the lesson plan that I did I distinguished between plants and animals and also spoke about some similarities. After I wrote down the basics I said that I would have the rest of the class add to that concept map as much as they could, then afterwards we would all share. Concept maps help display the connections between specific topics. I agreed with all of the readings and know that I will have to eventually buy inspiration when I become a teacher, so that I will be able to use this type of teaching in my classroom.

After making a lesson plan using a concept map I saw how easy it is to explain things. Everything is organized and one can see clearly how things relate to one another. With this program,(Inspiration)I saw how children would enjoy working. It gives children the opportunity to play around and arrange things how they want them making it easier for them to learn. For a teacher it is a great way to organize things and make it easier to teach because it is just like using an outline. For kids its helpful because it helps them incorporate their own ideas and it makes it easier for the student to grasp new ideas. For the younger kids, using Kidspiration is a great idea because children seem to learn through visual ideas and if they have pictures of animals or things they like they will see and relate the topic to something fun. As a child I do remember my teachers using concept maps although they did not have the programs available to them like Inspiration. They would make the maps and have us fill in the blanks with our own ideas. I don't recall having that much fun probably because they didn't have drawings but I do remember them being really helpful.

After reading the articles on concept maps, I found that this is an excellant way to grasp the attention of the students and the teacher. Making it helpful and fun for both. The readings also helped me understand how the concept map could be used and incorporated into lesson plans as well as helping the students come up with their own ideas. As a student I have never used concept maps before, writing essays I used outlines or graphic orgaizers, but this seems like a more interesting and helpful way.

I enjoyed the readings also! I completely agree, concept maps are really helpful and will help kids come up with their own ideas! I enjoyed the readings and I also liked creating my own concept map and using Inspiration for our assignment!

     After reading these three articles and making a project of my own in class I realized how useful concept maps really can be. These articles not only support the use of concept maps in the classroom, but they give ideas of how concept maps can be correlated into the teacher’s lessons. Agreeing with the articles, I think that concept maps are a new creative positive way a student can learn a subject. They should be implied into more of today’s classrooms. The teachers just need to understand that they have the resources available to them. Once they grasp an understanding of how to make concept maps they will realize that it will not only be an aid to them and their lesson plans, but help their students learn as well.
One of the articles said that concept maps will alleviate any forms of plagiarism, and give the students the opportunity to learn a topic in a more exciting way, than if they were to write an essay. I find this to be true. Though I have never used concept maps as a child, I have used a similar form of it called brainstorming. Through my brainstorming process I learned, and remembered, a lot more than if I were to approach that subject in a different way. Now that I have seen the usefulness of concept maps in the classroom through an educator’s eyes I strongly believe that it is a good thing! I am excited to someday incorporate concept maps into my lesson plans and see if my student’s reactions were the same as mine.

After reading the online articles on concept maps, please tell us in a few paragraphs, your impressions of the readings, new insights, thoughts and reactions. Have you used concept maps in the past? What were your reactions to using them and do you feel the same now after seeing them through the eyes of an educator?