Concept Maps in Math

In the Baroody and Bartels article it talks about how using concepts maps are an important way to getting students to comprehend different mathematical concepts. It talks about how a teacher could use a concept map to serve as an organizer of the students information. On this concept map there could be different discussion topics, relationships between concepts, or tying ideas together, or a summary of a lesson. Another way that a concept map could be helpful for math comprehension is organizing the broadest topic at the top and then slowly working your way down and getting into the topic. When I was reading this article I thought about the different ways that students problem solve. We present so many different ways to solve problems and expose students to different methods. This made me think of chapter 5 in the discussions books where it talks about the solution methods and problem solving strategies. In this chapter it talks about the four steps to use for solving a problem; understand the problem, make a plan for solving the problem, carry out the plan, look back and reflect on the answer in terms of the initial question. (89). It would be a lot easier for students to use this process if they could have a map of what exactly the lesson is about. This would allow them to look back at all of the different ideas from the lesson and use them for solving a problem. I think this would be another great method for students to use, or a way to help them organize there methods.