Learn to Organize and Express Complex Ideas Through Concept Mapping
Explore the process of concept mapping to organize and express complex ideas effectively, essential for senior thesis projects and problem-solving tasks. Utilize key concepts, post-it notes, and connections to create a structured and comprehensive visual representation of your research. Enhance communication and collaboration through collaboratively developed conceptual models.
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Presentation Transcript
Concept Mapping: 1. Learning through making explicit mental connections and association patterns 2. Presenting complex material to others Your senior thesis is different from most term papers Evolving problem solving Pulling together many concepts, often from disparate fields Presentations to peers, professors, mentors, the research community How do you organize and express this?
Concept Mapping List the key concepts A. Write the most important ideas related to each concept on a Postit -- Include relevant terms and details in the list i. Who, what, where, why, when, how, how much ii. Processes iii. Drivers iv. Relationships cause and effect, etc. v. Characteristics Number the concepts in order of importance Group closely related concepts Connect the concepts by drawing lines. Add verbs, verb phrases or prepositions to describe how the concepts are related. Don t just make a map. Make connections and ideas. Review the concept map A. Check for accuracy -- fix errors , delete any redundancies, add missing concepts B. Rearrange the concepts and relationships as needed C. Add emphasis to key concepts and relationships: size, color, pictures 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Numbered List of Concepts
Free Concept/Mind Mapping Tools Online Cmap Edraw VEU (Tufts) Concise learning www.conciselearning.com http://www.conciselearning.com/mindmapping.html The most popular free mind mapping programs are XMind (desktop), FreeMind (web-based), Mind42 (web-based), WisdoMap (web-based), Wisemapping (web-based), Bubbl.us (web-based),and IHMC CmapTools (concept mapping). They offer feature menus, are easy to use, and are compatible with other mapping programs.
Value of Collaboratively Developed Conceptual Models Jointly developing a model not only helped the participants to formulate questions, clarify system boundaries, and identify gaps in existing data, but also revealed the thoughts and assumptions the process of model building can help scientists, policy makers, and resource managers discuss applied problems and theory among themselves and with those in other areas. Conceptual Models as Tools for Communication Across Disciplines Heemskerk et al. 2003 People were willing to listen to everybody else, but what about this issue or that issue, can we put that in? It wasn t a case of, Oh I don t think so. It was a case of where will it fit and then once the subject matter was up there, then pretty much everyone in the group were able to add what effects what. Evaluating participatory modeling Jones et al. 2008
Summary: Concept Maps/Conceptual Models Formulate questions Clarify system boundaries Identify gaps in existing data Reveal thoughts and assumptions Combine knowledge from different expertise Succinct presentation of system elements
1. Try it out for your entire proposal, or just one section, i.e. the Introduction or the Methods 2. Then discuss it with your neighbor
