1. Learning You are great at rote learning. Senior Seminar is different.
Pull together many concepts
Disparate fields
Multiple professors
Subtle hypothesis
How do you organize and express this?

2. Ways to express these ideas
Schematics
Concept maps.

3. Visual Abstract http://pubs.acs.org/toc/esthag/0/0
This is similar to both the one minute slides and concept maps.

4. Concept Mapping List the key concepts
Write the most important ideas related to each concept on a Postit -- Include relevant terms and details in the list
Who, what, where, why, when, how, how much
Processes
Drivers
Relationships – cause and effect, etc.
Characteristics
Number the concepts in order of importance
Group closely related concepts
Connect the concepts by drawing lines. Add verbs, verb phrases or prepositions to describe how the concepts are related.
Don’t just make a map. Make connections and ideas.
Review the concept map
Check for accuracy -- fix errors , delete any redundancies, add missing concepts
Rearrange the concepts and relationships as needed
Add emphasis to key concepts and relationships: size, color, pictures

5. Concepts Arsenic Health Groundwater Poisoning Tubewells Surface water
Release
Fe oxides
Organic carbon
Sources
Peat lenses
Latrines
Irrigation
Deposition

6. Concepts-numbered Arsenic Health-1 Groundwater-3 Poisoning-2
Tubewells-4
Surface water-13
Release-6
Fe oxides-8
Organic carbon-5
Sources-7
Peat lenses-9
Latrines-10
Irrigation-11
Deposition-12

7. Concepts-grouped Arsenic Health-1 Poisoning-2 Groundwater-3
Tubewells-4
Release-6
Fe oxides-8
Organic carbon-5
Sources-7
Peat lenses-9
Latrines-10
Irrigation-11
Deposition-12
Surface water-13

10. Free Concept/Mind Mapping Tools Online
Cmap
Edraw
Concise learning
The most popular free mind mapping programs are XMind (desktop), FreeMind (web-based), Mind42 (web-based), WisdoMap (web-based), Wisemapping (web-based), Bubbl.us (web-based),and IHMC CmapTools (concept mapping). They offer robust feature menus, are easy to use, and are compatible with other mapping programs.

12. Value of Collaboratively Developed Conceptual Models
“Jointly developing a model not only helped the participants to formulate questions, clarify system boundaries, and identify gaps in existing data, but also revealed the thoughts and assumptions … the process of model building can help scientists, policy makers, and resource managers discuss applied problems and theory among themselves and with those in other areas.
“Conceptual Models as Tools for Communication Across Disciplines” Heemskerk et al. 2003
“People were willing to listen to everybody else, ‘but what about this issue or that issue, can we put that in?’ It wasn’t a case of, ‘Oh I don’t think so.’ It was a case of where will it fit and then once the subject matter was up there, then pretty much everyone in the group were able to add what effects what.’
“Evaluating participatory modeling” Jones et al. 2008