Concept Map Confession

I have a confession to make; I am crossing over to concept maps. Recently, our class was introduced to www.Mywebspirations.com and ever since I have been finding ways to incorporate these maps into my classroom instruction. This program is very easy to navigate and create personalized concept maps that could truly fit into the instruction. The webspiration program gives the teacher the opportunity to insert pictures and change colors unlike the concept map programs that I previously used.  I realized that I was hooked on concept maps last Friday when the students seemed very confused with the distinction between the universe, galaxies, and solar systems. Mainly, they did not understand which was bigger or what encompasses what group. Immediately, my mind jumped to make a quick concept map and during the break that is exactly what I made. My field instructor and the students really liked this graphic organizer and I feel it really helped explain the topic.

As you can see, at the top of my blog page there are two concept maps. The Universe one, I have already mentioned. It was printed out for the students to keep and reference throughout this astronomy unit. The other concept map deals with EM waves. This is a concept that we will be starting soon and will also be printed out for the students’ notes. Most likely, this concept map will be the basis for a Web Quest project. The students will break into groups and pick an EM wave to investigate. The groups would then teach their fellow classmates the EM wave they learned. This concept map will serve as the back bone to the lesson. Overall, I have definitely learned to appreciate and institute concept maps into the classroom.