Chapter 8 Reflections:

How Concept Mapping Helps Special Learners

Not all students learn best from straightforward reading of a book. Not all students learn best from sitting still and listening. The discrepancy between a teacher’s teaching style and a students learning style can cause a student to perform poorly. Thought this applies to the traditional classroom as well, this problem is especially prevalent with special learners. Concept Maps can make learning easier for these students through weeding out extraneous reading and intergrading interactive learning techniques.
Some students have an easier time reasoning out what they need to focus on for an upcoming test. However, many times, students with special needs struggle with what to study and what to cut out. Concept Mapping helps make this process much simpler. Concept mapping mainly focuses on the biggest points, already weeding out unnecessary information. Not only does this make the information more organized for the educator, but it also gives students a more direct approach to new material. Experimental evidence supports the claim that concept mapping helps students with special needs understand and learn information better.
Not only do concept maps thin information presented, they also allow for quick access to interactive learning. Students positively respond to video and other Internet sources. Concept Mapping allows a teacher to integrate quick links to videos and photo’s online to enhance the learning experience. This variation of the mundane lecture will hold students attention and hopefully allow the teacher to more thoroughly cover a deeper variety of subjects!