What is mind mapping?

Mind Mapping is a technique of note-taking that creates a complete, at-a-glance representation of an idea, concept, or plan which is presented in a simple fusion of words and pictures.

This is more than the mere presentation of information as additional clarification is provided. Mind Maps can include all the required information on one or more pages and present it clearly and effectively.

Recent scientific research supports growing evidence that the Mind Map is the natural manifestation of the human brain’s thinking processes. Because it works organically like the brain, mimicking the ways in which new pathways are formed or consolidated when information is passed between branches and brain cells (Buzan, 2018 )

So, a Mind Map is a reflection on the paper of Radiant Thinking in action: describing and enhancing creative thoughts by making connections to a central concept or idea.

How does mind mapping help?

This graphic organizer helps record, memorise, connect, and output information in a visually expressive way.

So, Mind Mapping is not ‘unstructured thinking’ because it gives the structure to organize and categorize ideas. This makes remembering and recalling information much easier and more effective.

This organizational tool also fosters creativity, problem-solving, and concentration.

According to Buzan (2013) using radiating branches from the center outwards, a Mind Map encourages your thoughts to behave in the same way. You can enter new ideas or build up existing ones, and connect another branch to either the central theme or main branch.

So, you can generate more novel ideas and come up with several solutions using mind mapping.

Besides, a Mind Map clarifies the main ideas and the existing relationships among them. This facilitates communicating and negotiating during presentations since the essential ideas are made clear.

So, using Mind Mapping has many benefits, it is thus important to know how it works.

How does mind mapping work?

The Mind Map is created on plain paper. Yet, it is different from any ordinary drawing. It has:

• The central idea or topic
• The main branches that are connected directly to the central idea and contain the principal themes of a mind map.
• The sub-branches connect to the main branches and contain the subsidiary and detailed information of the mind map.

The Mind Map starts with a central idea and branches out to create connections and associations via a visual representation of your notes, reports, essays, and presentations.

An image or a picture can be used for the central idea. This can help boost imagination and focus. Adding colours can also make the mapping process more interesting.

The center image or idea is connected to the main branches. The number of associations you have already used can be regarded as your memory, your database, or your library.

You can draw sub-branches from each main branch and add greater detail. There’s no limit on how many sub-branches you can add to each main branch.

Making the branches curved and using single keywords per line stimulate new ideas and thoughts.

In addition to pictures, colours, Mind Mapping also operates with symbols, boxes, and connecting arrows (See the examples below).

Mind mapping examples

Source:MindTools.com

Source:mindmapping.com

Source:ayoa.com/mind-mapping

How to teach mind mapping to students?

Mind Mapping is not only a tool to achieve efficient and constructive thinking but also an enjoyable process. Your students will get mindful of what they are doing, using colour, key images, and words on expressive lines with connections. They can cooperate, working on content together with their peers using Mind Mapping.

You can engage students in creating their own Mind Maps to:

• draft notes for lectures and presentations;
• take notes from texts and books;
• brainstorm ideas, plan and organize projects;
• summarise the content of books, discussions, and lectures;
• learn and prepare for exams (taking Mind Mapping notes, adding their thoughts, revising regularly, and explaining their mind map to others).

 

To teach this technique, here are 3 steps you can follow:

Step1: Introduce the concept

During class, write in the center of the board a topic like ‘my success depends on…’. Give some examples: ‘revising regularly my lessons’, ‘summarizing my notes’. Then, invite your students to provide their suggestions and connect them to the center.

Explain what Mind Mapping is, its benefits to their learning, and how it should be created. Share some examples in class: how to use it to take notes for projects or essay writing.

Step2: Make the process interesting

Involve students in creating their Mind Maps. You can ask them to use this technique to brainstorm ideas to write an essay. Try to make that assignment easy to accomplish, selecting an interesting and common topic for your students.

Also, explain clearly the instructions and provide an example of the kind of structure they need to create. Monitor students’ work and provide the necessary guidance.

Step3: Provide practice

To help students use the Mind Mapping technique more effectively, it’s necessary to provide practice as much as possible. Students, for instance, can create a Mind Map for homework or any assignment.

At the beginning of class, you can ask them to brainstorm ideas about a given topic to activate and develop their prior knowledge. While reading a text, they can use it for better comprehension.

They can also use Mind Mapping at the end of the lesson to summarize the main learned ideas/concepts. This helps check for their understanding.

Provide students with opportunities to revise their Mind Maps in groups and share peer feedback to improve further the process.

So, there are many learning activities you can integrate mind mapping to make learning more meaningful and fun. You can also use online computer versions of mind mapping such as iMindMap, MindMeister (MindMeister Labs), Visio (Microsoft), and MindNode (MindNode Software).

Show interest in the Mind Mapping technique, and use it as a teaching and learning tool. Your students will get more engaged.

References

Buzan, T. (2013). Modern Mind Mapping for Smarter Thinking. UK: Proactive Press.

Buzan, T. (2018). Mind Map Mastery. UK: Watkins Media Limited.