Concept Maps: Basic Concepts and Benefits

What is a Concept Map?

Concept maps are visual tools to organize and represent knowledge. They were originally developed by Novak in 1972 with the goal of promoting meaningful learning and evaluation (Novak & Cañas, 2008).

Creating a concept map begins by identifying key concepts related to a focus question and placing each concept within an oval or square. Concepts are then connected to one another using arrows and linking words to describe the relationship. The broadest or most general concepts are placed at the top and concepts become more specific as the map progresses downward. After building the preliminary map, cross-links between different areas or domains of the map can be added to represent creation of new relationships (Novak & Cañas, 2008).

The complexity of a concept map varies based on the breadth and depth of a topic as well as the knowledge and experience level of the person completing the concept map. For example, both the diagram to the left (Lavanya, 2018) and the diagram below (Novak & Cañas, 2008) are examples of concept maps that answer the question "What is a concept map?"; however, the left diagram is noticeably simpler with fewer concepts and only one cross link.

Benefits of Concept Maps in OT Education

Concept maps have been used to enhance critical thinking skills in a variety of healthcare education programs including physician assistant, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, and occupational therapy (Carr-Lopez et al., 2014; Grice, 2016; Henderson et al., 2017; Hicks-Moore & Pastirik, 2006; Israel et al., 2019; Moni & Moni, 2007; Yue et al., 2017). Concept maps can either be created “from scratch” by a student or through the use of an “expert skeleton” that is initially developed by an expert (e.g., the instructor) using a small number of key concepts. Student then build upon this skeleton by adding additional concepts, links, cross-links, and examples. When using a concept map as a learning activity, it is helpful to phrase the topic as a question to help students improve the focus and quality of their maps (Novak & Cañas, 2008).

Specifically, the process of creating a concept map is believed to help:

• Enhance of the motivation of students to engage in active learning

• Describe new ideas

• Visualize the big picture and promote in-depth learning

• Develop understanding of relationships between information

• Integrate new knowledge with existing knowledge

• Identify misconceptions or gaps in knowledge

• Provide a forum for discussion of material

• Encourage reflection and self-evaluation

• Promote new ways to think about a concept or problem

Concept Maps as an Evaluation Tool

Concept maps can be used as an evaluation tool to identify the level of a student’s understanding, the validity of their ideas, and their ability to think critically. Notably, replacing multiple-choice (rote-recall) tests with performance-based tests such as concept mapping can improve student learning; however, one caution with using concept maps as an evaluation tool is that academic achievement on concept maps may be influenced by external factors beyond content knowledge such as motivation level (Moni & Moni, 2007; Novak & Cañas, 2008). Assessment using concept maps should be completed using a rubric to communicate clear criteria and achievement standards for specific aspects of the concept map such as content, logic and understanding, and presentation (neatness) (Moni et al., 2005; Moni & Moni, 2007).

Despite their wide use by educators to promote content knowledge and critical thinking skills, students appear to have mixed perceptions about the use and benefits of concept mapping (Moni & Moni, 2007). In general, students agree that concept maps can be useful for visualizing the broad picture of a concept and promoting in-depth meaningful learning (Carr-Lopez et al., 2014; Hicks-Moore & Pastirik, 2006; Grice, 2016). One of the most common student complaints about the use of concept mapping is the amount of time required (Moni & Moni, 2007).

Concept Maps as a Learning Activity

Have you used concept maps within the classroom setting? How did you structure the learning activity and how did your students respond? Are you interested in learning more about how concept maps have been used with the classroom for entry-level OT students now that you've learned about the potential benefits? Look for an upcoming blog post on a learning activity I created to promote critical thinking and meaningful learning within a functional neuroanatomy course for OT students.

References

Carr-Lopez, S. M., Galal, S. M., Vyas, D., Patel, R. A., & Gnesa, E. H. (2014). The utility of concept maps to facilitate higher-level learning in a large classroom setting. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 78(9), 170. https://doi.org/10.5688/ajpe789170

Grice, K. (2016). Concept mapping as a learning tool in occupational therapy education. Occupational Therapy in Health Care, 30(3), 309-318. https://doi.org/10.3109/07380577.2015.1130886

Henderson, W., Coppard, B., & Qi, Y. (2017). Identifying instructional methods for development of clinical reasoning in entry-level occupational therapy education: A mixed methods design. Journal of Occupational Therapy Education, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.26681/jote.2017.010201

Hicks-Moore, S. L., & Pastirik, P. J. (2006). Evaluating critical thinking in clinical concept maps: A pilot study. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.2202/1548-923X.1314

Israel, C., Zipp, G. P., D’Abundo, M., & Deluca, D. (2020). Mind mapping to enhance critical thinking skills in physician assistant education. Journal of Allied Health, 49(2), 7.

Lavanya, Angelin. (2018). A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Concept Map Teaching Method on Self Esteem among III Year B.Sc Nursing Students, Bishop's College of Nursing, Dharapuram. Research Journal of Pharmacy and Technology. 11. 3330. 10.5958/0974-360X.2018.00612.1.

Moni, R. W., Beswick, E., & Moni, K. B. (2005). Using student feedback to construct an assessment rubric for a concept map in physiology. Advances in Physiology Education, 29, 197-203. https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00066.2004

Moni, R. W., & Moni, K. B. (2007). Student perceptions and use of an assessment rubric for a group concept map in physiology. Advances in Physiology Education, 32, 47-54. https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00030.2007

Novak, J. D., & Cañas, A. J. (2008). The theory underlying concept maps and how to construct and use them (Technical Report IHMC CmapTools 2006-01 Rev 2008-01). Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. https://cmap.ihmc.us/docs/theory-of-concept-maps