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The concept map, Water and Its Patterns on Earth's Surface, highlights the relationships between salinity concepts. This approach aligns with the research from How People Learn (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000) in assisting students to develop competence in an area of learning. Students must have both a deep foundation of factual knowledge and a strong conceptual framework. This allows students to organize information into meaningful patterns that can be used for future problem-solving. The map was developed in close alignment to the National Science Education Standards and the Benchmarks for Science Literacy documents.

In the teaching and learning of any science subject, concepts do not exist in isolation. Each concept depends on its relationships to others for meaning. A concept map provides clarity of meaning and integration of critical details. The construction of a concept map requires thinking in multiple directions and at varying levels of abstraction. In the process of identifying the key and associated concepts of a particular topic or sub-topic, one acquires a deeper understanding and clarification of any prior preconceptions.

Essential concepts and relationships are broken into four branches Properties of Water, the Hydrologic Cycle, Phases of Water, and Heat Capacity. Click on the arrow to get a close up look at each of the branches. To see the map in its entirety, click anywhere else on the map. For a printer friendly version of this map see this PDF version. (Note: to print this PDF you will need a sheet of 8.5" x 14" legal size paper.)

American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1994) Benchmarks for Science Literacy, New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

National Research Council (1996). National Science Education Standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Novak, J. and D. Gowin. (1984) Learning How to Learn. Cambridge University Press.