Abstract

Introduction It is well established that the use of concept mapping has considerable educational benefits [1]. A computational tool to support concept mapping can enhance these benefits by providing features that make the mapping activity easier for students. In particular, computer-based concept mapping can more effectively support the refinement of ideas that leads to the revision of the structure of the map. Given that mapping leads to learning it is inevitable that student's concepts will evolve and so the representation of the concepts should be easily alterable. This can be difficult and messy to do with paper-based maps, but can be made into a trivial activity for paper based maps. We describe a computational tool which can support not only concept mapping but brainstorming and the refinement and revision of ideas. Although initially developed to support software design, we believe that its core features are equally applicable as a learning environment for students of an

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