Concept Mapping: An “Instagram” of Students' Thinking

ABSTRACT

Minimal research has been accumulated in the field of social studies education for Novakian concept mapping, yet there are many benefits from adding this learning tool to a teacher's instructional toolbox. The article defines Novakian concept mapping and invites readers to adopt digital Novakian concept mapping into the social studies classroom as a means to build content knowledge, to understand what students are thinking about content, and to provide opportunities for students to make relevant and important connections within the body of knowledge defined as social studies. A concept map is like an Instagram of a student's thinking about a particular topic. Steps for teachers to teach students how to introduce and create a Novakian concept map are included in the manuscript along with sample focus questions and maps.

KEYWORDS:

• Social studies
• concept mapping
• concept maps
• Novak
• 21st Century Skills

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.