What is Forestry? Concept Mapping

Concept Mapping:

Concept mapping is a technique for representing the structure of information visually. Similar to an outline or a flowchart, a concept map is a way of representing or organizing knowledge. However, a concept map goes beyond the typical outline with concept maps showing relationships between concepts, including bi-directional relationships. A concept map is a graphical representation where nodes (often represented by circles) represent concepts, and links (arcs or lines) represent the relationships between concepts. The concepts, and the links, are labeled on the concept map. The links between the concepts can be one-way, two-way, or non-directional. The concepts and the links may be categorized, and the concept map may show temporal or causal relationships between concepts. Once completed, the concept map is a visual graphic that represents how the creator(s) thinks about a subject, topic, etc. It illustrates how knowledge is organized for the individual or group that creates the graph. . Assessment Tool-Concept maps can also be used as assessment tools/ Concept maps drawn by students express their conceptions (or their misconceptions) and can help the instructor diagnose the misconceptions that make the instruction ineffective. When compared as a pre and post side by side they can be used to assess how much a student has learned.

As a Learning tool for Students

To organize material
To integrate large bodies of material
To map his existing knowledge structure of a subject
To insert new concepts within his existing knowledge structure
To fix learned material in long-term memory
To revise effectively for examinations

From the “The Concept Mapping Workshop” developed by Douglas McCabe, Educational Development Centre, Hong Kong Polytechnic University: http://158.132.100.221/CMWkshp_folder/CncptMapp.Wkshop.html