What is Mind Mapping?
Mind Mapping lets you visually organize information using spatial organization and a hierarchical structure of main branches and sub-branches, which is a useful strategy for constructing knowledge. It helps people make sense of what they’re learning by building connections between concepts and ideas. Integrating multimedia strengthens the learning.
Benefits of Mind Mapping
- Helps students organize ideas and understand concepts better
- Non-sequential way of organizing information works better than linear methods for some students
- Shows the whole as well as the parts
- Can be an assistive tool for people who are visually minded
- Benefits found by the Institute for the Advancement of Research in Education study, 2003
- Improves reading comprehension
- Enhances critical thinking and learning skills
- Supports cognitive learning theory
- Increases retention
Uses of Mind Mapping
- Brainstorm
- Visualise concepts
- Improve critical thinking
- Outline written documents
- Storyboard presentations
- Review notes
Rules for Mind Mapping in the Buzan Method
- One word per branch
- Length of the word is the length of the branch
- Use colours and images where possible
- Be clear in your printing and organization
How to Mind Map
How to Mind Map with Tony Buzan – Use this as a basis to create a list for your students, or co-create the list with your students by looking at an example of a mind map
Examples
Resources
Free Technology Tools
- Lucidchart (web, iOS, Android, Chrome, free premium version for educators and students, K+ with a GApp account)
- MeisterTask (web, Chrome, free unlimited maps, great for G4+ if using GApps)
- Mindomo (web, iOS, Android, Chrome, up to 3 free maps, great for MS+)
- Kidspiration (iOS free for 5 maps, great for K+)
- Popplet (iOS allows one map, great for K+)
Visit the Tony Buzan website for 7 Steps to Making a Mind Map. You may want to use the list as inspiration to create your own steps for your classroom.
This was part of a longer workshop that I presented to some teachers in Prague on Dec. 4, 2017.