Concept/Mind Mapping

• Use in the classroom:
• Lesson: I think concept maps work well as introductory activities to a unit. Students can brainstorm what they know about a topic, and their original map can (and should) be referenced/modified throughout the unit. There are so many mapping sites and applications available these days that allow for creative collaboration among students, and since these maps are created through technology, it makes modifications extremely effortless and easy. Not only are mind maps a great introductory tool, I think they work very well as a review tool too; the class can work together to create a mind map about how ideas about a specific topic relate to one another before taking a final assessment about the topic.  
• Objective: Students will be able to collectively brainstorm what they know about polynomials and update their mind maps throughout the unit.
• In the education field, collaboration is super important! Teachers collaborate about lesson plans and projects within their departments (and hopefully among content areas too), and it is our job as educators to teach our students how to work/collaborate with each other. Learning how to collaborate with others and defend/support an idea are important life skills for young people to learn, and what better place to learn these skills than inside a classroom. Asking students to create mind maps about a specific topic (or ideas related to a specific topic) is a great way to get their creativity flowing and demonstrate how ideas/topics are interconnected.  
• I can develop a culture of collaboration in my classroom by asking my students to collaborate in small groups and prepare to share their ideas with the rest of the class. Hopefully the whole class discussion will allow for more collaboration and reveal connections between the small group's ideas. 

• Application:
• I feel as though the majority of the design principles for instructional multimedia support the idea of making ideas/topics more simple, clear, and concise. Although concept maps usually use single words or short phrases to describe an idea, I feel as though the connecting links/arrows can become very complicated and messy. Most of the connections made in a concept map need further explanation otherwise the connections may not make sense (if the concept map is referenced at a later date). As much as I love the idea of mind maps for student collaboration, I think the topic should be chosen with caution. Do not pick a topic that is so complex that the map will be become too complicated to understand.

• Reflection:
• My thoughts about technology use have not changed much this week. I love concept maps, and I think they offer great opportunities for collaboration. I also think concept maps work well as a way to show steps for a process (i.e. steps of factoring) or categories that support a main idea (i.e. different types of shape or families of functions).
• I enjoyed creating a concept map about the topic we are currently discussing in my Algebra II class (polynomials). This will be a great talking point when we review for our upcoming test.
• I grew in the way that I learned about different types of concept mapping technologies. It's always nice to know multiple sites that ultimately do the same thing (in this case concept map technologies) just in case one of the sites is down when you need to use it.

• Artifact: Concept Map of Polynomials
• The following concept map about POLYNOMIALS was created using Bubbl.us.com.

• https://bubbl.us/?s=7264995#MzY1NDUxMi83MjY0OTk1LzI1YjRjNmU2OTEzODkxZWViODEzZWExZDEwNWY3MWFj?X