Group 4 Tools

Online Concept Mapping - I have looked at a number of group 4 tools and have found a number of them to be very useful.  I did however find online concept mapping tool quite easy to use and can see this as a very useful tool in the classroom particularly for students to create themselves.

This tool would be of great use in a business class as it can help students visually identify key strategies for business and also help to develop other things such as chain of command mapping for a workforce.

It can also be used in Health and Physical Education similarly to the concept map here which I have made with text2mindmap.

I found text2mindmap really easy to use and it would be ideall for lower secondary years (8, 9 and 10).

Bubbl.us was used to create my second concept map.  This was just as easy to use as text2mindmap and can be used in pretty much the same concept.  It does however appear to be more structured but depending on what you are trying to teach either concept mapping tool can be used for a variety of KLA's.

I have chosen to expand on the use of concept mapping tools through

the use of a scaffolded PMI analysis.

Plus (all the positives)	Minus (all the negatives)	Implications (the potential outcomes whether positive or negative)
Easily accessible Easy to use. Can be fun and engaging Allows for creativity through different styles of tools available (Text2Mindmap, bubbl.us, iMindMap) Students can create individually and/or in groups Useful across all KLA’s Suitable for all abilities.	Can be used ineffectively Can be used incorrectly. .	Can be used in many different ways for all class levels and across all KLA’s Can be embedded Promotes thinking methodically and sequentially

Zooburst - I also had a quick look at zooburst.  This is a very easy tool to use however I found that it would be more useful to primary school rather than secondary school as I feel it is aimed more at a lower age group and would have a greater appeal at this level.  Still quite a good tool though.

Source: http://www.zooburst.com/zb_books-viewer.php?book=4c7ef3f8366e9 - Created by shortstuff44 on October 22, 2011