Concept Mapping in Special Education: Current Status and Proposals

The present work refers to concept mapping. In the twenty-first century, the goals of education shifted
towards teaching-learning for diverse learning needs. According to research, the field of education is
constantly evolving. The study of the international literature was considered appropriate for the investigation
of this issue. Conceptual mapping is a pedagogical tool for organizing and representing knowledge
(Jonassen, 2000). Conceptual mapping is based on Ausubel's Meaningful learning theory which asserted that
new knowledge is constructed from connections to prior knowledge. It enables students with different
learning needs as a multiple choice for taking in information and understanding ideas (Dimitrakopoulou,
2001). The purpose of this article, therefore, is to make it clear that in line with the objectives of education,
the concept map as a pedagogical tool gives students with different learning needs a multiple choice for
taking in information and understanding ideas, and this tool, also, provides a blueprint for teachers to
improve and develop the learning environment through multiple representations of concepts.