Graphic Organizers / Concept Maps

Contents
What are concept maps and graphic organizers?
Why use concept maps and graphic organizers in your teaching?
A model process for concept mapping
Universal design considerations
Resources

What are concept maps and graphic organizers?
Graphic organizer is the more general category of the two; it refers to any
arrangement of visual features typically combined with text that represents the
relationships among concepts, ideas, facts, events, steps, or other items. Strangman,
et al, gives a variety of examples, including thematic map, comparative and contrastive
map, series of events chain, and problem-solution outline.
A concept map can be considered a type of graphic organizer that depicts relationships
of connection among concepts related to a particular topic or question. A typical
concept map uses shapes with words inside to denote main concepts, with other
shapes representing subtopics or ideas. Connections are drawn using lines or arrows,
whether within a cluster around a main idea or between items in different clusters.
These connectors may have labels specifying the nature of the relationship. The result
is a network that shows a set a relationships rather than just describing them, as a
written or spoken narrative does.
For a sample concept map, see the map of the faculty section of the DRS website, of
which this document is a part.
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DRS: Graphic Organizers/Concept Maps Page 2

Why use concept maps and graphic organizers in your
teaching?
Experts in learning and cognition recommend integration of concept maps and other
graphic organizers into the mix of strategies used by educators at all levels.
1
The most
robust learning and retention of information comes about when students encounter
information in both verbal and visual-spatial modalities. A concept map represents
information in both ways simultaneously. In addition, giving students the task of working
with information through the creation of their own concept maps helps them learn: it
requires them to organize information in a meaningful way and to demonstrate the
relationships they perceive among the ideas (and/or among those ideas and what they
already know).
2

According to Joseph Novak and Alberto Caas, the human brain remembers
information by organizing it into hierarchical structures; since concept mapping requires
the intentional construction of this scaffold, it helps individuals to learn better,
remember more, and apply what they have learned in novel situations. It is also an
effective way to get students to practice higher-order thinking skills like synthesis and
evaluation, and is useful as an assessment method for these skills.
3

Susan Ambrose recommends assigning students to construct concept maps for several
different purposes:
1. To express what they already know coming into the course or into a new unit;
this will help the instructor to diagnose misconceptions or gaps in prior
knowledge.
2. To show development of their thinking over the course of the semester;
3. To organize what they are learning about a particular topic in order to answer
a specific question about it.
Concept maps and other graphic organizers can be useful tools for helping students
reach a range of learning objectives. For example, flow charts help students

1
For example, Susan Ambrose, How Learning Works Jossey-Bass, 2010: 228-30
(TU Library); Diane F. Halpern and Milton D. Hakel, Applying the Science of
Learning, Change (July/August 2003): 39; and Nicole Strangman, Tracey Hall,
and Anne Meyer, Graphic Organizers and Implications for Universal Design for
Learning: Curriculum Enhancement Report, National Center for Accessing the
General Curriculum, 2003.
2
Halpern and Hakel, 39.
3
Novak and Caas, 7, 13.
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conceptualize the steps in a process and the possible permutations of that process
under certain conditions. Comparative and contrastive maps highlight simultaneously
what two entities, accounts, or theories have in common and where they diverge. For
complex, non-hierarchical relationships, spider maps offer an effective way to visualize
the components and connections. Graphic organizers, when created by instructors,
may accomplish different purposes than those that students construct (either from
scratch or from an initial list of topics or template for organization).
Research studies in the full range of educational contexts largely confirm the benefits of
graphic organizers for learning. For example, Nicole Strangman, et al, report that most
studies they and other authors reviewed found that using graphic organizers to support
learning from texts (reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition) resulted in
statistically significant learning benefits for students with a disability as well as for those
without a disability.
4
Postsecondary students appear to gain the most from the use of
graphic organizers for learning from texts.
5

The research suggests several conditions that tend to maximize the benefits of graphic
organizers:
1. Constructing or viewing a graphic organizer after reading the material has a
greater effect than if a graphic organizer is used in a pre-reading activity
6
;
2. Learning gains depend to a large degree on the training and guidance the
instructor gives students in using graphic organizers. This includes:
the instructors modeling the task the students will be doing;
explanations of what the tool is and why the instructor is incorporating
it in this way;
chances to practice using/constructing graphic organizers and to
receive explicit feedback; and
for teacher-created organizers, verbal explanations of the relationships
depicted, invitations for student input, and activities involving decoding
and analysis.
7

Finally, it is worth considering presenting course information or instructions for
assignments in two or more alternative forms: conventional text, perhaps also in audio
form; and graphic organizer. For instance, a concept map of the entire course may help

4
Strangman, et al, 5-10.
5
Ibid., 7.
6
Ibid., 8.
7
Ibid., 8-9.
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at least some students see more clearly the big picture of the learning objectives,
activities, assignments, and assessments outlined in the syllabus. This can boost
motivation and lead to greater commitment on the students part. (The act of creating
the map will probably also help you, the instructor, clarify what exactly you and the
students will be doing and why.) Presenting a major assignment, such as a term paper
or a lab project, in graphic form can help students see the importance of following the
steps as specified, observing the time limits, and producing what is called for at each
stage.
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A model process for concept mapping
Novak and Caas offer a set of simple steps that will guide you and your students in
constructing a concept map.
1. Formulate a focus question that the map will answer.
2. Brainstorm the main concepts, themes, or other elements that have a
role in answering the focus question.
3. Place these main concepts, etc., on the side of the workspace (the
parking lot). You may use post-it notes if working by hand, or a list if
using a computer tool.
4. Build a preliminary map by moving items from the parking lot to the map,
grouping key words and related subtopics together. Move things around
to get the best representation of the relationships.
5. Look at the map and decide which elements in different clusters have
significant connections, and draw those connections.
6. Treat the map as a work-in-progress. Add concepts; shift others around;
draw new connections.
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Universal design considerations
The UDL implications of concept maps differ according to how faculty deploy them.
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Access to instructor-generated maps
Although maps that you create can be a very effective way to convey ideas and model
ways of thinking for students, you should always provide a text-based or verbal
alternative to any concept map. This is because any student who uses assistive
technologies that read documents aloud will have one of two types of problems with a
concept map:
a. The map will be in image-format that screen readers and text-to-speech software
cant recognize; or
b. If you save a digital version in an accessible text format (e.g., RTF or tagged
PDF), the reading software will probably not render the map intelligibly, given its
specific purpose. For instance, it may read straight across, and will not
differentiate between text inside the concept-shapes and text on the link-lines.
Likewise, the software will not be able to figure out how to read items in one
cluster or domain together unless you insert a read-order in the HTML code of
the file.
Some commercial concept mapping software allows a user to extract the text into an
outline, but this form does not convey all the information the map itself does.
Your all-text alternative should capture the visual-spatial component of the map.
Describe each cluster with its internal connections, then note the cross-connections as
well. You may provide this information in either a text document or an audio file, or
both.
Assigning students to create maps
There are many learning objectives toward which students can make progress by
constructing concept maps. However, keep in mind that blind/low vision students will
face particular challenges in representing their ideas visually and in space, especially on
a computer. Discuss the activity with your student(s): Explain your purposes for
assigning a concept map, and explore possible methods to accomplish it. For example,
are there three-dimensional materials s/he could use? Is this a collaborative activity in
which a sighted student could build the map according to the insights of both/all
participants?
One distinguishing feature of UDL is flexibility: as much as possible, students will be
able to choose among options that are engaging and that allow them to demonstrate the
full extent of their knowledge. Concept mapping can pose barriers to some students
with a disability, as we have seen, but it can also appeal quite strongly to other
students, including those with strong visual-spatial skills, some individuals with ADHD or
Asperger syndrome, or those who dont enjoy or do well at narrative writing. Therefore,
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if the skills or knowledge you seek to assess can be measured using concept mapping,
consider including that as an option for the product you will assess.
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Resources
Clark, Chris. Ten concept mapping tools. NspireD2: Blog site of the Kaneb Center at
Notre Dame. Contains links to free concept mapping software and to several
commercial programs.
Clark, Chris. Best Tools and Practices for Concept Mapping. NspireD2: Blog site of the
Kaneb Center at Notre Dame. This article offers a concise and informative
overview of the benefits and ways to use concept mapping in the classroom;
includes a helpful video (6.5 min.).
Merlot ELIXR offers a video case story of a business education professor who included
flow-charting as a universal design feature of her course.
Novak, Joseph D. and Alberto Caas. The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How
to Construct and Use Them. Technical Report IHMC Cmap Tools 2006-01 Rev
01-2008. One author, Novak, is a creator of Cmap mapping software, a free
downloadable application. This article includes a section that explains and
promotes the software. However, the research-based conceptual framework
presented in the article stands on its own and makes the article well worth
reading.
Strangman, Nicole, Tracey Hall, and Anne Meyer, Graphic Organizers and Implications
for Universal Design for Learning: Curriculum Enhancement Report. National
Center for Accessing the General Curriculum, 2003.

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