What is a Concept Map Diagram

What is a Concept Map Diagram?

6-8 minutes

A concept map or conceptual diagram is a diagram that depicts suggested relationships between concepts that represent ideas and information as boxes and circles with labeled arrows in a downward-branching hierarchical structure. It is a graphical tool that instructional designers, engineers, technical writers, and others use to organize and structure knowledge.

Original of Concept Map

Concept mapping was developed by Joseph D. Novak in the 1970s as a means of representing the emerging science knowledge of students. It has subsequently been used as a tool to increase meaningful learning in the sciences and other subjects as well as to represent the expert knowledge of individuals and teams in education, government and business. Concept maps have their origin in the learning movement called constructivism. In particular, constructivists hold that learners actively construct knowledge.

When to Use Concept Map

Concept maps are used to stimulate the generation of ideas and are believed to aid creativity. Such mapping is also sometimes used for brain-storming. Although they are often personalized and idiosyncratic, concept maps can be used to communicate complex ideas and we can use it for wide variety of areas, to just name a few:

• A road map represents the locations of highways and towns
• A circuit diagram represents the workings of an electrical appliance
• New knowledge creation: e.g., transforming tacit knowledge into an organizational resource, mapping team knowledge
• Note-taking and summarizing gleaning key concepts, their relationships, and hierarchy from documents and source materials
• Collaborative knowledge modeling and the transfer of expert knowledge
• Facilitating the creation of shared vision and shared understanding within a team or organization

Concept Map vs Topic Map vs Mind Map

Concept map can be a map, a system view, of a real (abstract) system or set of concepts. Concept maps are more free form, as multiple hubs and clusters can be created, unlike mind maps, which typically emerge from a single center.

Topic map – Concept maps are rather similar to topic maps in that both allow to connect concepts or topics via graphs.

Mind map reflects what you think about a single topic, which can focus on group brainstorming.