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| www.whatthegregg.com |
This week’s session was on Mind Mapping. I have to be honest here; I looked at the topic and had no clue what it was referring to. So…drawing on my past learning (see Week 4: Wikis) I did a quick Wikipedia search. Basically, mind mapping is a way to get a lot of ideas out of your brain and onto paper without writing a novel. It’s a concise way of not only getting your thoughts down on paper, but also discovering the connections between ideas and how they are related. Mind mapping can range anywhere from a basic model of thoughts (i.e. circles connected by lines) to the extreme, with different colors and sizes of fonts, pictures, graphics, and shapes.
A lot of people believe that mind mapping is the best technique to use to record your thoughts. For example Peter Russell mentions these points on his website (http://www.peterrussell.com/MindMaps/Advantages.php):
- Mind-maps work the way the brain works -- which is not in nice neat lines.
- Memory is naturally associative, not linear. Any idea probably has thousands of links in your mind. Mind-maps allow associations and links to be recorded and reinforced.
- The mind remembers key words and images, not sentences -- try recalling just one sentence from memory! Mind-maps use just key words and key images, allowing a lot more information to be put on a page.
- Because mind-maps are more visual and depict associations between key words, they are much easier to recall than linear notes.
- Starting from the center of the page rather than top-left corner allows you to work out in all directions.
- The organization of a mind-map reflects the way your own brain organizes ideas.
- Mind-maps are easy to review. Regular review reinforces memory. Best is to try reviewing in your imagination first, then go back and check on those areas that were hazy.
I used the site https://bubbl.us/ to play around with creating mind-maps. I decided to try to make a mind-map for Sheldon Cooper in the Luminous Fish Episode.
Basically in this episode Sheldon gets fired for insulting his new boss Dr. Gablehauser and is forced with the dilemma of what to do with his time, while still being a productive scientist of course! I’ve always wanted to know the inner workings of Sheldon’s mind, so here’s a peek.
Overall this was a pretty easy tool to use. However, I had trouble making the connections between thoughts and I don’t think I would be able to brainstorm as easily using this program as I would on paper. I think that for me, this tool would be best used to clean up my messy chicken-scratch maps that I have drawn on the back of the latest take-out menu. When putting down my thoughts, I much prefer the freedom of the completely creative and unhindered technique of handwritten mind-maps. They may be messier, but I can put in different shapes, add picture or even just graphical representations of ideas instead of struggling for a word or phrase.
I can see Mind Mapping being a useful teaching tool. Students could use mind mapping to:
- Brainstorm ideas when writing group papers
- Brainstorm and organize group presentations
- Discuss possible experimental methodologies
- Summarize the general knowledge in the literature on a specific subject
- Exploring the far reaches of the implications/applications of a specific study or experiment.
- Explore the many possible ethical issues surrounding an experiment’s methodology.
Basically if students found this type of brainstorming and organization effective, there are endless applications as an effective learning tool. It also may encourage more active learning processes and support effective group work.
I came across this photo and it struck me that since I tend to have a bit of a “Post-It” obsession, this may be an effective way to create a mind-map. I could simply write my ideas on the post-its and would have the ability to move them around as I pleased. I could even add photos or graphs into my mind-map when it would be more effective than words (also great for visual learners!).
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| From Flickr user: keaggy.com |
My only criticism with the site https://bubbl.us/ is that I had a hard time exporting the mind-map. I ended up having to hold down CTRL and select every bubble I had made to be able to save it as a complete picture.
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If Mind Mapping interests you, here are some great sites to visit:
100 reasons to use Mind Mapping:
Difference between mind mapping and brainstorming:
Good mind mapping site
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