Concept maps can be used as substitutes for traditional note taking when you read articles in magazines and newspapers. This question illustrates the point. Chapter 7 describes a number of interesting devices based on the concepts of electric charge and force, electric currents, and electric circuits. Some of these applications of the principles of electricity include semiconductor devices, electrostatic precipitators, superconducting devices (such as MRI machines), transformers, and so on. Using the Internet or resources available at your library, locate and read an article on one of these devices.
After reading the article, look back through it and circle or identify the key concepts in it. Then, using only the concepts you have identified, try to construct a concept map that accurately relates the major ideas or issues raised in the article. After completing the map, reflect for a moment on the degree of difficulty of this exercise. Are some major “concepts” missing from the article that you, the reader, had to “add,” based on your own knowledge, to make sense of the article and, hence, your map? What does this suggest to you about the quality or level of sophistication of the piece you read?