• it helps one to identify gaps in knowledge and understanding, thereby lending a goal-oriented aspect to further learning.
A scientific publication can be concept mapped with the following seven-step procedure, adapted from one developed by J. D. Novak [Arnaudin et al., 1984]:
1) read the publication, highlighting or underlining key ‘concepts’ as you go. ‘Concepts’ can be hypotheses, assumptions, equations, or experiments, but not relationships.
2) skim back through the publication, systematically highlighting previously overlooked concepts that seem relevant to the overall context.
3) transfer all of the highlighted concepts to a list. Try to list the most general ones near the top and the less inclusive, more specific ones near the bottom. Sometimes an entire suite of related concepts can be encompassed in a larger-scale box representing a packaged general theory.
4) transfer the list onto a concept ‘map’, where broad categories are placed near the top of the map and successively more restrictive categories are placed successively lower on the map. Place similar concepts or categories on the same level, grouping related ones. Draw lines linking concepts on different levels. Label each line with a simple linking word that identifies the relationship between the pair of ideas.
5) ‘branch out’, adding concepts and links that were not in the publication but are suggested by examination of the map.
