A knowledge arena is a virtual space where individuals can manipulate

concept A concept is an abstract idea that serves as a foundation for more concrete principles, thoughts, and beliefs. Concepts play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied within such disciplines as linguistics, ...

s and relationships to form a

concept map A concept map or conceptual diagram is a diagram that depicts suggested relationships between concepts. Concept maps may be used by instructional designers, engineers, technical writers, and others to organize and structure knowledge. A conc ...

. Individuals using a computer with appropriate software can represent concepts and the relationships between concepts in a node-relationship-node formalism. The process of thinking about the concepts and making associations between them has been called "off-loading" by Ray McAleese. See also: {{cite journal , last=McAleese , first=Ray , date=2000 , url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228951375 , title=Skill acquisition: the curious case of information searching , journal=Interactive Learning Environments , volume=8 , issue=1 , pages=23–49 , doi=10.1076/1049-4820(200004)8:1;1-G;FT023, s2cid=6490674 The

is a form of a

semantic network A semantic network, or frame network is a knowledge base that represents semantic relations between concepts in a network. This is often used as a form of knowledge representation. It is a directed or undirected graph consisting of vertices, ...

or semantic graph. It is formally based on

graph theory In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of ''graph (discrete mathematics), graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of ''Vertex (graph ...

. In the concept map, concepts are represented by

nodes In general, a node is a localized swelling (a "knot") or a point of intersection (a vertex). Node may refer to: In mathematics *Vertex (graph theory), a vertex in a mathematical graph *Vertex (geometry), a point where two or more curves, lines, ...

. The relationship between nodes are represented by typed links ( edges). In creating a map or graphic representation of what is known an individual intentionally interacts with the

graphical interface A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and visual indicators such as secondary notation. In many applications, GUIs are used instead of te ...

or map and through a reflective process adds nodes (concepts) and/or adds relationships (edges or typed links) or modifies existing node-relationship-node instances. It is likely that the process of engaging with concepts and relationships between concepts brings about the creation of understandings as well as making the understandings explicit. Many different claims have been made for the utility of the

. The interactive and reflective nature of map creation is highlighted by the use of the description ''knowledge arena''. Although maps may represent what an individual knows at a point in time; it is likely that by interacting with the concepts and relationships in the knowledge arena individual continues to create and modify what that individual knows.

Notes and references

Conceptual modelling