When we taught the two lessons described
in this article, we observed our young
readers learn to visualize their thoughts and
organize their ideas by using concept maps we
created for them and those they developed
on their own. Throughout the activities,
they reinforced knowledge they had learned
previously and discovered links between
ideas. In the process, they also showed their
confidence and competence in making
predictions and inferences. We hope that other
teachers who incorporate concept-mapping
activities into their lessons will experience
similar success.