Concpet Mapping in Physical Education. Bonnie did a book on it.

Concept Mapping



Applications such as Kidspiration and Inspiration, both from Inspiration, help students to clarify, conceptualize, and communicate ideas through the development of graphic organizers. The programs allow users to structure their ideas either by creating an outline or using drawing tools. Either way a graphic is created that represents a concept or information. Students can use graphic organizers to demonstrate their understanding of physical education concepts. Some of the possible assessment ideas for graphic organizers include:


1. Depicting locomotor and nonlocomotor movements.


2. Depicting the components of health-related fitness.


3. Illustrating fundamental skills used in different sports.






Four popular types of graphic organizers include spider, hierarchy, relationship map, and systems map. The spider is organized by placing the central theme in the center of the map and then adding sub-themes around it. For example, the term Health-Related Fitness is placed in the center and the components of health-related fitness are added as the sub-themes. The venn diagram depicts similarities and differences. For example, it can show a comparison between offensive and defensive strategies, or a comparison between the sports of basketball and team handball. The relationship map links two or more concepts by words that describe their relationship. For example, volleyball is to team sports as badminton is to individual sports. This helps students learn in a more meaningful manner, taking in new information and integrating it into already known facts and concepts. The last category is the comparison map. This map also depicts similarities and differences. For example comparing practice for open and closed skills.


If you are interested in more information on using concept mapping in physical education, click here.

I like different software for concept maps. My favorite is a bit older, LifeMap. But, the free (gratis) utility is from Florida. Start reading: http://cmap.ihmc.us/publications/ResearchPapers/TheoryCmaps/TheoryUnderlyingConceptMaps.htm