Cognitive maps visually arrange concepts and ideas connected by lines and relationships. They aim to portray the whole topic or idea graphically. There are different forms cognitive maps can take, including simple concept maps linking one idea and advanced hierarchical concept maps showing relationships between ideas. Creating cognitive maps helps explore existing knowledge, aid in planning, and support evaluation through reflection. Introducing different mapping styles supports developing understanding and finding a preferred method of organizing information.

2. COGNITIVE MAPS / GRAPHIC
ORGANIZERS
A map is a useful guide to where we are and where we
whish to go.
Maps can also be made out of words, ideas and
concepts. These can be called cognitive maps, and they
can be powerful tools for learning.
Cognitive maps attempt, visually and graphically, to
portray a relationship of ideas or concepts. They are
sometimes called concept maps because identifying
key words and concepts makes it easier for us to use
language, not only to make study notes but also in
thinking, learning and remembering.

3. MEMORY
Memory is primarily a process of making links,
connections and associations between new
information and existing patterns of
knowledge.
Memory depends in large part on key words
and key concepts that, when properly
remembered, are transferred from short-term
memory into long-term memory.
It is through the linking of information to
existing patterns of knowledge that we create
new forms of understanding

5. Concept Development
Level of Concept
Development
Scientific
Spontaneous
learned through direct sensory
experience such as learning what an
orange is through touch, taste, sight
etc.,
abstracted from experience and
learned through language for
example, that all oranges have
certain common dements such as
roundness

6. Need for
Explanation
Explanation
from others
Explanation
to others

7.  Labeling: giving no explanation, things just are‘ e.g.
this is an orange.
 Enumerating: giving odd facts, this is what they are‘
e.g. there are oranges in shops.
 Making a link: pairing contiguous ideas e.g. oranges
grow on trees
 Identifying common characteristics: e.g. similarities
oranges are round, have an orange color, have pips
etc.

8. CONTD…….
Identifying concepts as belonging to a class:
knowing class name e.g. oranges are fruit food.
Identifying concepts as belonging to a pattern or
hierarchy of concepts: relating to other classes
e.g. orange as fruit/food/plant/living thing.
 Identifying concepts as relating to other patterns
of concepts: identifying similarities/differences
with other classes e.g. orange related to
linguistic, mathematical, scientific, historical,
geographical, economic and other conceptual
patterns.

9. Generating Initial Concept Maps
 Invite children to close their eyes and ask them if they can see
a picture in their mind when you say a familiar word for an
object such as dog, chair or grass. Print these on the board
and ask children for more examples.
 Children now close their eyes and see a picture while you say
an event word such as raining, running or painting. Ask
children for more examples, and write them on the board.
 Explain that words have meaning for us if we can see them as
pictures in the mind. Try a few unfamiliar words to see if they
can picture them in the mind. (If you have bilingual pupils you
might try to introduce a few familiar foreign‘ words to show
that people use different labels for the same meaning).

10. Contd…
 Introduce the word concept‘ and explain it is a way of
describing a word that can be pictured in the mind.
Review some words on the board to see if they are
concept words.
 Write some linking words such as the, is, are, when,
that, then. Ask if these words bring pictures to the
mind. Explain that these are not concept words but
words that link concepts in sentences. Ask for more
examples of linking words.
 Ask the children to read some sentences from a book
and to identify the concept words and linking words.
Ask children to pick a concept word, and begin to list
information brain-storm) about the word as a
preparation for making their own concept maps.

11. Cognitive mapping can serve a number of purposes. Three of
the main aims or purposes of making thinking visible though
cognitive mapping (think mapping, mind mapping or concept
mapping) are:
 To explore what we know: identifying the key concepts,
showing links between ideas and making a meaningful
pattern out of what we know and understand.
 To help planning: as an aid to planning an activity or project
by organizing and grouping ideas and showing links
between them.
 To aid evaluation: helping the evaluation of experience or
knowledge through a process of reflection on the key
elements of what we know or have done.

13. o A map visually consists of any arrangement of
shapes such as boxes, circles, rectangles, triangles
etc., connected by lines and/or arrows drawn
between and among the figures.
o The map conceptually contains verbal
information within and between the shapes to
create a pattern or relationships of ideas.
o The aim of the map is to show how the whole
topic in question can be portrayed.
o There are several forms that this mapping can
take.

14.  Simple concept maps create a semantic web from a simple
idea or key concept. A more advanced strategy is to map
concepts into a hierarchical form.
 A hierarchical concept map show pupils how to represent a
hierarchy on ideas within a given topic and to show the
relationships between them.
 Research shows that children as young as five years can create
hierarchical concept maps of a simple kind, but it is not
usually until around ten years that children produce maps that
show quality and complexity of thinking and it is around this
age that some teachers have found group work on
hierarchical concept mapping to be most beneficial.

15.  Children should be introduced to a variety of ways of
organizing information in graphs form. In having experience
of different ways of mapping information they will have a
means of processing any information for better
understanding, but also will be able to utilize their
preferred way of making thinking maps.
 Research shows that there is no one way that is best or
which suits all people. Some prefer a linear arrangement,
some geometric forms others more free flowing organic
structures.
 Graphic organizers and other forms of cognitive mapping
can provide a good focus for co-operative learning and can
engage students in the shared processing of information
and ideas in many ways.