The Advantages of Concept Maps
A concept map is a diagram that explores a central idea by visually linking it in a logical fashion to bubbles of subtopics, steps, points and consequences, some of which link to each other while some don't. The more complex the central idea, the more complex the map is, but also the more valuable it is because concept maps parse complicated material into readily understood branches and bits of knowledge.
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See Connections
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A concept map will help you and others to see the connections and interconnections of a topic and thus to grasp its complexity to think about it in an logical fashion. Also, once you see how one thing leads to another, you understand the necessity of links in a chain of reasoning or of procedural steps that you might have thought unnecessary.
See Misconnections
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Sometimes you may want a preconceived idea to fit into a scheme, but as you construct the concept map, you realize that you are trying force it to fit. In an article in the scholarly journal "Global Perspectives on Accounting Education", professors Jayne Maas of Loyola University and Bruce Leauby of LaSalle University say that concept mapping helps identify misconceptions. For example, perhaps you have surgery and your doctor gives you many post-surgical instructions. You thought you heard her say that a week of bed rest is necessary before resuming activity, but as you lay out your concept map on post-surgical healing, you realize that it doesn't logically fit because you have two other notes saying that she recommended physical therapy and daily walks after 48 hours.
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Productive Brainstorming
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Because one connection leads to another, concept mapping encourages productive brainstorming, a fundamental skill of independent thinkers and necessary to creativity.
Write a Better Paper
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If you are a student or if you need to produce a corporate paper, a concept map will increase your awareness of your reader. Unprepared writers often leave out material that a reader needs in order to follow a thought or line of logic, and a concept map will ensure that you don't drop necessary links. You might also include the concept map within the paper. Making the concept map will also help you to organize your thoughts, which will help you to write a better paper more quickly.
Make a Better Presentation
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With a prepared concept map, you can break a concept down into bite-size pieces that your audience will more readily comprehend, and give them a visual so that they can see the connections without needing lengthy explanations.
Learn
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Cognitively, making a concept map is more than list-making or drawing a diagram; it's a method of making your thought-process visual, which forces you to work toward clarity. This leads to a fuller understanding and easier recall so that you can fluently speak and write about the topic. Professors Maas and Leauby say that concept maps help learners "to organize what they know and think in more complex ways." Once you understand one aspect of a topic by mapping it, you have not only built a foundation for other topics, you have allowed yourself to branch into other aspects of the topic and thus build more complex knowledge.
Make Decisions
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Faced with an important decision, conceptualizing the choices by mapping them under one heading--either the reason you need to make the decision or the outcome you hope for--will help you to see the risks and benefits of various actions. For example, the problem "Broken Car" may branch to "buy new car" on one side and "repair car" on the other, with each choice leading to a chain of desirable and undesirable results. Some bubbles, such as "able to go to work", may connect to both sides.
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