What’s the difference between concept mapping and mind mapping? These two types of visual mapping look very similar, which tends to cause a lot of confusion among people who are just learning abou them. Thankfully, the Wikit website contains a very concise and easy to understand comparison of these two concepts.
Here is a summary of the differences:
Concept maps
Are commonly used to organize and represent tacit knowledge.
Usually contain general concepts at the top of the map, with more specific concepts arrayed hierarchically below.
Connector lines usually contains keywords or phrases that summarize the relationship between the topics they connect. Such as topic a “causes” topic B.
Topics may be cross-linked with each other to depict more complex relationships between topics. Topics in mind maps may only have one parent; in a concept map, a topic may have multiple connector lines, each one representing a different relationship.
Mind maps
Tend to be more flexible and personal than concept maps.
Are used to slice and dice the map’s central topic or concept in multiple ways.
May contain images and color, to make them more visually stimulating
Topics may only have a single parent
Check out this informative article for more details, as well as a wealth of information about mind mapping and other visual thinking techniques on the Wikit website. This page contains an index of all of the articles on this extensive wiki – very impressive!
Related article: How to use concept mapping to represent business knowledge