What is a concept map?

A concept map is something like a road map, which represents existing knowledge and concepts and their relationships with each other.

It often represents a hierarchy of concepts. For example, this explanation of igneous rocks has the most important concept at the top and the finer detail near the bottom. It has to be read by following arrows in one direction as indicated.

ig_cmap.gif (11910 bytes)

http://newmedia.avs.uakron.edu/geology/natscigeo/ig_cmap.gif

A concept map is a visual image of the concepts and ideas. For example, here is a visual image (concept map) explaining the relationship between Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus (Father Christmas).

http://www.to.utwente.nl/user/ism/lanzing/cm_home.htm

Uses of concept maps
Teaching a topic
Reinforcing understanding
Check learning and identifying misconception
Evaluation
Addressing a new topic i.e. as part of a problem solving process or query development
Clarifying or summarizing one's thinking on a topic.