Mind or Concept Mapping: Differences and Similarities

Concept Mapping and Mind Mapping
Click on the map to see the original on Flickr
Concept mapping and mind mapping are powerful graphic organizers, strategies for organizing and representing knowledge. They were developed during the seventies.

The terms may seem to be interchangeable, but there are some differences in the way they are created and used. 

On the map above we can see some key differences and similarities between these two techniques.  

In my Opinion, Concept Mapping is rather leveraging logical thinking while Mind Mapping improves the balance between creativity and logical thinking. 

Both techniques are complementary and help you to develop various skills such as identification of key concepts, pattern recognition, ideas organization, context understanding, etc...  Both techniques belongs to the field of Visual Mapping.

In the video below, Karen Rohrbauck Stout at Western Washington University explains how she uses concept mapping as an assessment technique.

Comments

Josef said…
Seems to me you left out the most important difference which is that Concept Maps are not limited to single hierarchies. In CM the connections are the most important.

The Wikipedia article on Concept Map has some good info on the comparison.

-- Josef
April 7, 2013 at 7:11 PM
Josef said…
Seems to me you left out one of the most important differences. A Concept Map is not limited to a single hierarchy; connections are given higher emphasis. Thus, a CM could offer a rich graph structure that can lead to knowledge, whereas a Mind Map just gives information, cannot lead to knowledge.

The Wikipedia article on Concept map provides some good info.

Is your bias for MM not giving other techniques their due?

-- Josef
April 7, 2013 at 7:15 PM
Philippe Boukobza said…
Thank you Josef for this interesting comment. In my opinion Mind Maps are not limited to single hierarchies, especially when floating topics are used.
April 7, 2013 at 7:17 PM
Online College said…
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April 11, 2013 at 7:19 AM
Unknown said…
I agree with Josef. I liked the idea of mind maps when I first started using them, but I very quickly realised they didn't work. I was trying to map real-world information onto a mind map, but real-world info doesn't follow a hierarchy! Yes humans love to pull rank on each other and to let themselves be bossed around, but nature at its grander scales doesn't work like that. I found something like a wiki - non-hierarchical interconnected web - to be a more realistic representation of showing themes and relationships. I've yet to find something that satisfactorily combines a visual map for navigation and weighted relationships (รก la mind maps) along with wiki-style interconnected nodes.
May 25, 2013 at 6:16 AM
Unknown said…
I really like mind maps. I agree with Antonius, that they sometimes don't work. But in general mind mapping is a great invitation. t is a great article about free mind mapping that helps me to organize thoughts or study materials in a way that is more comprehensible. In my opinion only self-organization can help people not to be lazy.

Thank you for this topic.
With regards
Jane.
May 29, 2013 at 1:41 PM
Unknown said…
I really like mind maps. I agree with Antonius, that they sometimes don't work. But in general mind mapping is a great invitation. t is a great article about free mind mapping that helps me to organize thoughts or study materials in a way that is more comprehensible. In my opinion only self-organization can help people not to be lazy.

Thank you for this topic.
With regards
Jane.
May 29, 2013 at 1:43 PM
Unknown said…
Thanks for the info! I have also found some great Concept Map Examples and Templates using Lucidchart and they are very helpful and user friendly! Check it out!
July 10, 2014 at 5:41 AM
Unknown said…
I agree with josef
October 6, 2015 at 9:27 PM
LinkFacts said…
You have very well described the Differences and Similarities in Mind or Concept Mapping. I have been building concept maps since very long time and love them. Concept maps are the best way to organise information and remember anything. I use LinkFacts to create concept maps.
June 4, 2021 at 8:51 PM
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