1. Your experience ‘Some concepts are very difficult to understand…’ ‘Some ideas are too complex…’ ‘I find it difficult to make sense of what is presented…’ If you have also experienced the above when studying, try the following tutorials on idea elaboration stratiegies. They all help you better understand the text that you are studying. Making concept maps for better understanding Generating questions for better understanding Organising ideas for better understanding

2. What you’ll learn In this tutorial, you will learn that working on the information you have read will enhance understanding and you will learn drawing concept maps is a way to do it. Remember: This strategy can also be used when you listen to enhance your understanding of spoken information.

3. Concept maps Understanding of the new ideas and concepts you have learnt is enhanced if you can identify the relationship between them. Concept maps are diagrammatic representation of the relationships between concepts. Concepts are usually drawn in circles and their relationships are usually represented by lines drawn connecting the circles.

4. Benefits of drawing concept maps Drawing concept maps is a good way to represent relationships between concepts visually on paper. -By doing this activity, you are working on the concept relationships actively rather than learning them passively. -You can also appreciate that there are many possible ways of connecting the concepts, mirroring the complex nature of the world.

5. An example For example, one possible concept map representation of the following animals “chicken”, “cow”, “horse”, “parrot”, “snake”, “tiger”, “snail”, “fox”, “locust”, “rabbit”, and “oyster” can be based on whether they are domestic animals: By grouping the animals in this way, you can understand of the concept of domestic animals actively.

6. Activity Can you identify other relationships for the 11 animals listed in the example? Find a piece of paper and draw concept maps showing the relationships. When finished, click the buttons below to compare yours with our suggestions.

9. Summary In this tutorial, you have learnt the benefits of making concept maps and have tried making your own concept maps to enhance your understanding of the ideas.Remember, also apply this skill when you are listening.