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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

concept map

Learn more about concept map

Concept maps: an introduction
Using concept maps can help students make connections among subject areas. This article explains how teachers can use concept maps effectively and provides links to tools for creating them online.
Format: article
By Bobby Hobgood, Ed.D..
The Farm Concert
This lesson teaches basic print awareness along with animal names and sounds through guided reading and the use of a graphic organizer.
Format: lesson plan (grade K–1 English Language Arts)
By Kelly Brandon.
Reading comprehension and English language learners
Teaching reading comprehension and helping English language learners are the responsibility of every teacher, but they are also within the abilities of every teacher. These articles provide strategies for building content-area reading comprehension before, during, and after reading that can help English language learners — and all learners.
Format: series (multiple pages)
European and South American agriculture
In CareerStart lessons: Grade six, page 4.3
In this lesson for grades six and seven, students conduct research about agriculture in South America and Europe and organize the information on a compare/contrast map.
Format: lesson plan (grade 6–7 Social Studies)
By Mandy Matlock.Edited by Julie McCann.
Making connections between concepts
In The First Year, page 2.3
To help students connect what they're learning, make your expectations clear and ask them what they understand and what isn't working.
Format: article
By Kristi Johnson Smith.Commentary and sidebar notes by Lindy Norman.

Find all 57 resources in our collection.

An organizational strategy or tool that represents knowledge in visual form (such as a graph or diagram). Concept mapping facilitates student understanding of the relationships between keywords or concepts through visual representations.

See also graphic organizer.

Additional information

Concept maps can be used for brainstorming, to visually represent complex ideas, to integrate prior and new knowledge, or to outline a writing assignment or project.

Examples and resources

See Bobby Hobgood’s article "Concept Maps" for a thoughtful explanation of the use of concept maps. Also 2learn.ca provides a tool to help create your own concept map.