Engaging Students with Concept Mapping Activities

I think that concept mapping is a tool that should be used in all classrooms at one point or another. As a teacher it can be a great program to get students used to writing in an organized manner and help them see their ideas more clearly. It is also a good way to help students understand the ideas of similarities and differences. Students are able to see their ideas in an organized and visual way that is easier to understand than just jotting down some ideas. Especially for students learning how to outline subjects or study for tests even, this program can give those students a good starting point in doing so. Some of my ideas for the use of concept mapping include, an outline for a paper, such as writing a fairy tale. They can use the map to organize the title, main characters, themes, beginning and endings, and so on. Another idea could be when writing a report on a famous person. The person would be the main topic and all the important information can branch off of it. You could also use it when teaching math and the "fact families" of numbers.
Concept mapping can really help students by showing them a visual step by step process. Each student is capable of creating their own concept map and in that way can show a teacher that they understand the process of what is being taught.