Concept Mapping as a Learning Tool for Fashion Education

Concept mapping has been shown to be an effective learning tool to enhance student learning. Two concept map projects, one for a textiles course and one for a first-year fashion industry course, were developed to help students understand the connections between ideas and to assess their understanding of the course content. For a final project in the textiles course, students developed concept maps displaying textile components, serviceability characteristics, aesthetics, and the relationships between and among concepts. For the fashion industry class, students illustrated the organization of the fashion industry, career options, social and cultural influences on fashion, key terms from the text, the development and life cycle of fashion items, and the relationships between and among concepts. The concept maps demonstrated significant understanding of the relationships within the course material, and students commented that the concept maps helped to organize their thinking and to clarify concepts