Concept Mapping! What is it?

Concept Mapping within Arch identifies concepts essential for students to master to ensure learning of identified standards. It also streamlines the process of aligning these concepts to standards, units, lesson plans, assessments, and portfolios.  First, concept mapping combines:

• Optional working copy of standards sets providing concept frameworks
• Concept statements,
• Unwrapped essential and supporting concept elements,
• Concept-based learning targets, big ideas, and essential questions,
• Depth of Knowledge agreement,
• Curriculum mapping,
• Alignment or mapping to standards elements, and
• Searchable image, video and other web-based resources and files

The searchable, web-based resources are easily found by clicking the created learning targets, big ideas, or essential questions. Once found, these resources can be added to the related concept within the concept set.

Second, once the concept maps have been created, you can now use these maps to streamline your day-to-day planning, instructional, and assessment practices while enhancing overall quality of these practices.

​As illustrated above one can quickly check the content, skills, learning targets, big ideas, and essential questions that are being addressed in an instructional plan. The screen shot is the resulting concept map for the plan. This concept map is viewable for both the teacher and students alike allowing rich opportunities for discussion and quick access to related resources. Not illustrated is the fact the resources that are added to the concept are also available for immediate as one uses the plan.

In Arch, not only can one create concept maps for instruction plans, but also for:

• Plan Books
• Units
• Test items
• Rubric items
• Portfolios
• Portfolio pages

This fact allows one to analyze concept alignment by comparing concept maps between units and the unit's instructional plans. It will be possible for not only knowing that a student is challenged by a specific concept, but what specific content or skill he/she is having difficulty with and which they are not.