Teacher's Guide to Mind Mapping
Mind mapping is a way of representing and organizing thoughts in a radiant manner which fits with the associative way that memory and learning is constructed.
Knowledge bank
Mind mapping has been around for many centuries as a way of recording and organizing thoughts. Indeed, Leonardo da Vinci was using a form of mind mapping in the sixteenth century and there is some evidence that they were even being used in the third century too. They have been developed and championed in the last 30 years by Tony Buzan, who has trade marked the term Mind Map.
Mind mapping develops from radiant thinking. This is an associative process of developing ideas and connecting learning. For example, if you were doing a project on car design you might start by thinking about cars, then notice what you associate with cars, perhaps wing mirrors, metal, then plastic and so on. Mind maps provide a way of visually recording and organizing this associative data.
Mind maps are particularly useful for learners who are strongly intuitive thinkers or who favour visual methods of learning.
There is a series of simple steps to take to produce an effective mind map:
- Start with a key word that represents the topic you're thinking about. Place this in the centre of a blank sheet of paper and add an image which you associate with this word.
- Draw lines radiating from this central image and write words along the lines which you associate with the central idea. Add images alongside these words and use colour to make them stand out, and be memorable.
- If you draw to a halt, add several blank lines and leave them, for your mind to fill later.
- Take each idea, which you have developed from the central theme, and add further lines to this and write down words you associate with this theme too. You are now building a second level of association.
- Once you have completed your map you can look for patterns and connections between ideas and you can if you wish redraw all or parts of it to emphasize the new learning you have gained.
There are a wide range of benefits to making mind maps. They:
- Promote creative thinking
- Save you time
- Help you communicate complex ideas
- Aid your memory
- Organize your thinking
- Help you make new associations between ideas
- Improve exam revision and hopefully performance!
- Can help you learn more quickly and efficiently
Some teachers shy away from teaching mind mapping to learners, because it is something they themselves don't find helpful. However, it is important to share a variety of learning approaches so that those with different preferences for learning can make appropriate choices.
Although mind mapping has many benefits it is not the educational panacea suggested by some vociferous advocates. The key thing to appreciate is that mind maps serve their purpose, but are just one of a whole host of visual tools for organizing information and stimulating thinking.
Ask yourself
- What opportunities are your learners currently given to work with alternative recording strategies to writing sentences?
- How do you feel about teaching and using mind mapping? To what extent are your beliefs and preferences for learning influencing your views in this area (positively and negatively)?
- What further support do you need to assist you in developing this as a technique in your classrooms or your own work?
To do list
- Practise using mind maps for your own benefit for things like compiling shopping lists, resource lists, planning schemes of work and so forth. Also use them as interim stages in planning.
- Introduce them to your learners and set a series of easy tasks first, such as mapping their hobbies and interests, before moving this technique into work-based contexts.
- Mind maps are brought to life with colour. Provide learners with a range of coloured pens or pencils to help them animate and add interest to their maps.
- Ask learners to summarize a whole module of work as a map as you draw to the end of each unit.