Concept Map Examples: 8 Worked Maps by Subject, and How to Tell a Good One

A good concept map example is a set of short concept labels joined by arrows, where every arrow carries a linking phrase so that each connection reads as a true sentence: “water vapour condenses into cloud droplets”. The map answers one focus question, puts the most general idea at the top, and includes at least one cross-link between branches. Below are eight worked examples across school subjects, each written out link by link so you can rebuild it, followed by the Proposition Test, a five-check rubric for telling a strong map from a weak one.

Most “concept map examples” online are pictures. A picture shows you the shape of a map but hides the part that does the teaching, the words on the lines. That is why every example here is written as a list of propositions you can read aloud, check for accuracy and adapt to your own class.

What is a concept map?

A concept map is a node-link diagram in which each node is a concept and each labelled link states the relationship between two concepts. Two concepts joined by a linking phrase form a proposition, the unit of meaning the whole map is built from.

The idea comes from Joseph Novak’s research group at Cornell. In their IHMC technical report The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How to Construct and Use Them, Novak and Alberto Cañas write that “concept maps were developed in 1972 in the course of Novak’s research program at Cornell where he sought to follow and understand changes in children’s knowledge of science.” The same report defines the parts every example below uses:

• Focus question: “a question that clearly specifies the problem or issue the concept map should help to resolve.” Novak and Cañas add that “a good focus question can lead to a much richer concept map.”
• Linking words: “Words on the line, referred to as linking words or linking phrases, specify the relationship between the two concepts.”
• Hierarchy: the “most inclusive, most general concepts at the top”, with more specific concepts arranged below them.
• Cross-links: “relationships or links between concepts in different segments or domains of the concept map.” These are the links that show a learner has connected two areas of a topic rather than memorising each one separately.

The report also gives a practical starting size: list the concepts in a “parking lot” first, and “usually 15 to 25 concepts will suffice.”

Why should students build concept maps instead of only studying examples?

Because building a map produced a larger learning effect than studying a finished one in the largest review of the research. Examples are the model; the learning happens when students construct their own version.

Schroeder, Nesbit, Anguiano and Adesope’s 2018 meta-analysis in Educational Psychology Review pooled 142 independent effect sizes from 11,814 participants and found that learning with concept and knowledge maps “produced a moderate, statistically significant effect (g = .58, p < .001)”. Creating maps did better still: “creating concept maps (g = .72, p < .001) was associated with greater benefit relative to respective comparison conditions than studying concept maps (g = .43, p < .001).” The authors conclude that “constructing and studying concept maps are effective in group and individual activities, in STEM and non-STEM subjects, and at all levels of schooling” (ERIC record).

That result extends an earlier review. Nesbit and Adesope’s 2006 meta-analysis in Review of Educational Research covered 55 studies and 5,818 participants from Grade 4 to postsecondary, in science, psychology, statistics and nursing, and found that “the use of concept maps was associated with increased knowledge retention.” As the 2018 paper reports, that earlier analysis found that creating concept maps in a group while also having time to work individually produced an effect of g = .96. The 2018 review, with far more studies, found moderate to large effects “regardless of whether learners worked in groups, by themselves, or with some combination of the two”, so a collaborative class map and an individual homework map are both sound choices.

One refinement makes a map work harder. Blunt and Karpicke (Journal of Educational Psychology, 2014) had students build concept maps from memory, with the text put away, and tested them a week later. Retrieval-based concept mapping beat additional studying, and the authors describe their results as demonstrating “the effectiveness of concept mapping when it is used as a retrieval practice activity.” The practical version: show students an example, take it away, and have them rebuild their own map from memory before checking it against the text.

How do you tell a good concept map from a weak one? The Proposition Test

We use a five-check rubric we call the Proposition Test, built from Novak and Cañas’s construction rules and Ian Kinchin’s research on map structure. A map that passes all five is ready to share as an example; a map that fails one tells you exactly what to reteach.

Check	Question to ask	What a failing map looks like	Source
1. Focus question	Is there one question at the top that the whole map answers?	A topic label (“Photosynthesis”) instead of a question	Novak & Cañas
2. Readable links	Does every link read aloud as a true sentence?	Bare lines, or every line labelled “is related to”	Novak & Cañas
3. Short concepts	Is each node one to three words?	Full sentences in the boxes	Novak & Cañas
4. Cross-links	Does at least one link join two different branches?	Branches that never touch	Novak & Cañas
5. Net shape	Do concepts link to each other, not only to the centre?	A spoke (everything joined to one hub) or a single chain	Kinchin 2013

Check 3 comes straight from Novak and Cañas, who advise: “Avoid ‘sentences in the boxes’.” A full sentence inside a node is usually a whole branch of the map waiting to be drawn.

Check 5 comes from the spoke, chain and net classification Kinchin, Hay and Adams introduced in 2000. In a later paper in the Journal for Educators, Teachers and Trainers, Kinchin summarises what each shape tends to mean: “Spokes tend to offer no more insight to understanding than a bulleted list”, “chains appear to correlate with rote learning”, and “networks seem to be most closely associated with meaningful learning, especially when the linking phrases are dynamic and explanatory.” He adds that a spoke “may develop into a chain or a network” as understanding grows, which is why the same student’s map at the start and end of a unit is such a useful comparison.

To score a map quickly, count two numbers: valid propositions (links that pass check 2) and cross-links. Record both at the start of a unit and again at the end. The change is your evidence.

8 concept map examples by subject

Each example gives the focus question, the propositions to write on the board (concept, linking phrase, concept), the cross-link that shows real understanding, and the weak version students most often produce. Read each proposition aloud: if it is not a true sentence, the link is wrong.

1. The water cycle (science, ages 9–11)

Focus question: Where does the water in a puddle go, and how does it come back?

• The sun heats water in oceans, lakes and puddles
• Heated water evaporates into water vapour
• Water vapour cools and condenses into cloud droplets
• Cloud droplets fall as precipitation
• Precipitation includes rain, snow and hail
• Rain flows as runoff into rivers
• Rivers carry water back to oceans

Cross-link: plants release water vapour through transpiration, which joins the plant branch to the evaporation branch. A student who adds it has understood that evaporation is not the only way water enters the air.

Weak version: a chain of single words (evaporation, condensation, precipitation, collection) with no linking phrases. It looks complete but holds nothing a student could be marked wrong on, which means it tells you nothing.

This map is a cycle rather than a hierarchy, and that is correct for the content: Kinchin notes that cycles are “often linked with iterative learning processes”.

2. Photosynthesis and respiration (biology, ages 13–15)

Focus question: How are photosynthesis and respiration connected in a plant?

• Photosynthesis takes place in chloroplasts
• Chloroplasts contain chlorophyll
• Chlorophyll absorbs light energy
• Photosynthesis uses carbon dioxide and water
• Photosynthesis produces glucose and oxygen
• Aerobic respiration takes place in mitochondria
• Aerobic respiration uses glucose and oxygen
• Aerobic respiration releases energy, carbon dioxide and water

Cross-links: the oxygen photosynthesis produces is used by respiration, and the carbon dioxide respiration releases is used by photosynthesis. These two links are the whole point of the focus question.

Weak version: two separate spokes, one per process, that never touch. It passes check 2 and fails check 4, the common pattern for a student who has memorised both equations but not connected them.

3. Quadrilaterals (maths, ages 11–13)

Focus question: How are the different quadrilaterals related to each other?

• A quadrilateral is a polygon with four sides
• A parallelogram is a quadrilateral with two pairs of parallel sides
• A rectangle is a parallelogram with four right angles
• A rhombus is a parallelogram with four equal sides
• A square is a rectangle with four equal sides
• A kite is a quadrilateral with two pairs of equal adjacent sides
• A trapezium is a quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides (some curricula say exactly one; use your syllabus’s definition)

Cross-link: a square is also a rhombus. This single link repairs the most common misconception in the topic, that a square is not a rectangle, by making the inclusive classification visible.

Weak version: each shape in its own box around a central “Quadrilaterals” hub, with properties listed inside the boxes. That is a spoke with sentences in the boxes, failing checks 3 and 5 at once.

4. Ambition in Macbeth (English, ages 14–16)

Focus question: How does ambition drive Macbeth’s downfall?

• The witches’ prophecy awakens Macbeth’s ambition
• Lady Macbeth pushes Macbeth towards murdering Duncan
• Duncan’s murder makes Macbeth king
• A mind under strain produces visions: the dagger, Banquo’s ghost
• The prophecy about Banquo’s heirs feeds Macbeth’s fear of losing the crown
• Fear of losing the crown drives the murders of Banquo and Macduff’s family
• Macbeth’s tyranny turns the Scottish nobles against him
• Macduff kills Macbeth

Cross-link: Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking mirrors Macbeth’s visions. The link connects the two characters’ branches and gives an essay its comparative paragraph.

Weak version: a plot summary drawn as a chain. It is accurate and it is rote: nothing on it explains why, which is what the focus question asks.

5. Plate tectonics (geography, ages 12–14)

Focus question: Why do earthquakes and volcanoes happen where they do?

• Earth’s lithosphere is broken into tectonic plates
• Tectonic plates move slowly over the mantle
• Plates meet at plate boundaries
• Plate boundaries can be convergent, divergent or transform
• Convergent boundaries can form fold mountains, volcanoes and ocean trenches
• Divergent boundaries form mid-ocean ridges and rift valleys
• Transform boundaries cause earthquakes, as along the San Andreas Fault

Cross-link: earthquakes occur at all three boundary types, a link that joins every branch and answers the focus question directly. A second cross-link, the Pacific Ring of Fire follows plate boundaries around the Pacific, ties the theory to a map students already know.

Weak version: three boundary types, each with its own landforms, and no link back to earthquakes. It is tidy and it does not answer the question.

6. Supply and demand (economics, ages 16–18)

Focus question: What happens to the price of avocados after a poor harvest?

• A poor harvest reduces supply
• Reduced supply shifts the supply curve to the left
• The shift creates a shortage at the old price
• A shortage pushes the price up
• A higher price reduces quantity demanded
• The new equilibrium has a higher price and a lower quantity

Cross-link: available substitutes make demand more price-elastic, which limits how far the price rises. It connects the demand branch to the outcome and is the link that separates an A-grade answer from a B.

Weak version: the textbook diagram copied as boxes, “supply”, “demand”, “price”, “equilibrium”, joined by unlabelled lines. The diagram was already a better diagram; the map added nothing.

7. The body during exercise (health and PE, ages 14–16)

Focus question: What happens in the body when you start running?

• Working muscles need more oxygen
• Oxygen is carried by haemoglobin in red blood cells
• Heart rate and stroke volume rise, increasing cardiac output
• Higher cardiac output delivers more oxygenated blood to muscles
• Faster, deeper breathing increases oxygen intake
• Working muscles produce carbon dioxide and heat
• Heat triggers sweating

Cross-link: rising carbon dioxide stimulates faster breathing, joining the muscle branch to the respiratory branch.

Weak version: “heart”, “lungs” and “muscles” as three spokes around “Exercise”. Every fact might be right, but the map never shows one system responding to another.

8. Why the Industrial Revolution began in Britain (history, ages 13–15)

Focus question: Why did the Industrial Revolution begin in Britain?

• Britain had large deposits of coal and iron ore
• Coal fuelled steam engines
• Steam engines powered factories, mines and, later, railways
• Changes in farming pushed labour into towns and cities
• Growing towns supplied workers for factories
• Overseas trade supplied raw cotton and markets for textiles
• Factories produced cheaper textiles

Cross-link: railways carried coal, which closes a loop between two branches and shows the factors reinforcing each other, the argument a strong essay makes.

Weak version: a list of causes as spokes, each factor on its own line. It is a bullet list drawn in a circle, exactly Kinchin’s description of a spoke.

Concept map examples at a glance

#	Subject	Ages	Focus question	Shape	Cross-link that shows understanding
1	Science	9–11	Where does puddle water go?	Cycle	Transpiration → water vapour
2	Biology	13–15	How are photosynthesis and respiration connected?	Net	Oxygen and carbon dioxide exchanged both ways
3	Maths	11–13	How are quadrilaterals related?	Hierarchy	A square is also a rhombus
4	English	14–16	How does ambition drive Macbeth’s downfall?	Net	Sleepwalking mirrors visions
5	Geography	12–14	Why do earthquakes happen where they do?	Hierarchy	Earthquakes occur at all boundary types
6	Economics	16–18	What happens to prices after a poor harvest?	Chain plus cross-link	Substitutes limit the price rise
7	Health and PE	14–16	What happens when you start running?	Net	Carbon dioxide drives breathing
8	History	13–15	Why did industrialisation begin in Britain?	Net	Railways carried coal

What is the difference between a concept map, a mind map and a concept web?

A concept map labels every link with a relationship; a mind map radiates associations from one central idea, usually without labelled links. Some classrooms use “concept web” for a looser radial map, which by the Proposition Test is usually a spoke.

Martin Davies set out the distinction in Higher Education (2011), noting that mind maps, concept maps and argument maps are “sometimes used synonymously” even though there are clear differences between them, and that “the choice of mapping tool largely depends on the purpose or aim for which the tool is used.” In practice:

Tool	Links	Structure	Best for
Concept map	Labelled with a relationship	Hierarchy with cross-links	Explaining how ideas connect; checking understanding
Mind map	Usually unlabelled associations	Radial, one centre	Brainstorming, note-taking, planning
Concept web	Often unlabelled	Radial	Early-years vocabulary and topic starters
Flowchart	Arrows showing sequence	Linear with decisions	Processes and procedures

A mind map is a good first step: brainstorm freely, then add linking phrases and cross-links to turn it into a concept map. For mind map ideas, see our guide to concept mapping for business and education.

How do you make a concept map on an online whiteboard?

Put the concepts on sticky notes, link them with lines that stay attached, and type a linking phrase on every line. An online whiteboard makes the map editable by the whole class at once and keeps every version.

1. Write the focus question at the top of the board in a large text box. Check 1 of the Proposition Test is now passed before anyone starts.
2. Build the parking lot. Each student or group adds concepts as sticky notes to one side of the board, one concept per note, aiming for Novak and Cañas’s 15 to 25. Use one sticky-note colour per level of the hierarchy so the structure is visible at a glance.
3. Link the concepts. In HuddleIQ, linking objects is done by selecting a sticky note or shape, dragging from one of its link points to another object and releasing. The line stays attached when either object is moved, so students can rearrange the hierarchy without redrawing anything.
4. Label every link. Type the linking phrase in a small text box placed on the line, then set the arrowheads so each proposition reads in the right direction. Any unlabelled line is a failed check 2, and on a shared board everyone can see it.
5. Hunt for cross-links. Ask each group to add at least one link between branches and to use a different line colour for it.

The research-backed variations above each map to a HuddleIQ feature, so a teacher can run them without extra tools or preparation:

• Expert skeletons as templates. Novak and Cañas describe “expert skeleton” maps “previously prepared by an expert on the topic”. Build the skeleton once, then save it as a template and share it with a project, so every class starts from the same focus question and top-level concepts.
• Start-versus-end comparison. HuddleIQ keeps saved versions of each board, and Board History lets you restore an earlier state to a new board, so you can put a student’s first map next to their last and count the change in propositions and cross-links.
• Retrieval mapping for remote groups. For Blunt and Karpicke’s retrieval version, share the example map, then have groups rebuild it on a blank board from memory. HuddleIQ’s built-in video and screen conferencing runs on the board itself, so a remote group can talk while every member edits the same map in real time.

Verified teachers and students can use all of this at no cost on the HuddleIQ Education Free plan, which includes unlimited whiteboards and video conferencing.

How should teachers use concept map examples without students just copying them?

Use an example as a model to critique, not a template to fill in. The research advantage belongs to constructing a map, so the example’s job is to show what a good map looks like and then get out of the way.

Each of these techniques gives students the example while leaving the thinking, and the linking phrases, for them to supply:

• Critique first. Show the weak version from one of the examples above and have the class run the Proposition Test on it. Students who can say why a spoke fails check 5 will build nets on their own.
• Fill in the links. Give the concepts and the lines but leave every linking phrase blank. Writing the phrase is where understanding shows, and it is the part a student cannot copy from a neighbour without understanding it.
• Rebuild from memory. Show the example for two minutes, hide it, and have students reconstruct it, following Blunt and Karpicke’s retrieval-based design. Then compare with the original and count what was missing.

Frequently asked questions

What is a simple example of a concept map?

The water cycle map above is the simplest useful example: seven propositions such as “heated water evaporates into water vapour” around the focus question “Where does the water in a puddle go, and how does it come back?”, with one cross-link from transpiration to water vapour.

What are the four main parts of a concept map?

Concepts (the nodes), linking phrases (the words on the lines), propositions (concept plus linking phrase plus concept, read as a sentence) and cross-links (links between branches). A focus question frames all four.

How many concepts should a concept map have?

Novak and Cañas suggest that “usually 15 to 25 concepts will suffice” for a first map. Younger students can start with eight to ten, as in the water cycle and quadrilateral examples.

Can students make concept maps together?

Yes. Schroeder and colleagues’ 2018 meta-analysis found moderate to large effects for constructing concept maps whether learners worked in groups, alone or in a combination of both. A shared online whiteboard lets a group build one map at the same time and lets the teacher see every group’s map live.

Is a concept map the same as a mind map?

No. A concept map labels each link with a relationship and usually has a hierarchy with cross-links; a mind map radiates unlabelled associations from one central idea. Mind maps suit brainstorming; concept maps suit explaining and checking understanding.