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Mind Mapping |
I wanted to share some ideas with you about a learning, memory and organizational technique called Mind Mapping. I recently read a small article on Mind Mapping, written by Stephen Lundin, PH.D. He uses Mind Mapping to help him develop and organize his presentation for speaking engagements. His definition of Mind Mapping is as follows:
"Mind Mapping , briefly summarized, is a radiant display of words, color, and images, with lines radiating from a central image. The lines represent associations, and as the lines radiate out from the center, key words, color and images, build a structure that conveys the meaning with about 3 % of the words it would take if you were using standard linear text. A Mind Map is designed to be remembered effectively because it represents information in a far more brain –friendly manner. It can put all the information necessary for a full understanding of a subject on one page, and in a much more engaging format than linear text could provide." Dr. Lundin states that Mind Mapping is the creation of Tony Buzan, a British writer and psychologist.
The technique is of interest for many reasons. Linda Verlee Williams writes in her book Teaching for the Two Sided Mind, "To have the maximum opportunity to learn, linear sequential techniques must be paired with approaches that enable students to see patterns, make use of visual and spatial thinking, and deal with the whole as well as the parts." Mind Mapping would certainly appear to fit this definition. Williams states that in most learning organization we do not maximize both right and left brain learner opportunities. Individuals, she states, who excel when exposed to left brain (linear) learning techniques, are disadvantaged in that they are not taught how to develop right brain learning technique. Conversely, individuals, who excel when exposed to right brain learner opportunities, simply do not get to deploy these key methods they have become accustomed to utilizing when learning.
Lundin explains that we remember by association. Piaget, the Father of Developmental Psychology, called this ability to associate old experiential learning with new learning "assimilation". We basically learn and strengthen learning by attaching new sensory input to our existing learning. It is why it makes sense to have course pre-requisites. But instead of capturing information in a linear manner, we create organized picture models which clearly depict how the information is related. Naturally "Brain Friendly". After all we have over 100 billion neurons, and an estimated 100 trillion connections (synapses) to keep fresh!
So let's get practical. How is the technique going to be used to help learners learn? Well, Dr. Lundins suggests that it is a great way to take notes. "Mind Maps can be used to organize everything from content of a book to meeting notes, and of course patterns the information in such a way that it can be recalled with about 3 % of the words required for linear note taking."
Perhaps an activity could be devised in class, in which learners are first guided through a Mind Mapping exercise. The instructor might lead the class in developing a one page pictorial (Mind Map) description of some key training content. Then later on, groups within the class might be challenged to develop their own Mind Maps on subsequent key training topics, and present these back to the entire class. Honestly, at this point, this is just a suggestion. I have not tried it yet, but welcome comment from any of you who have.
Here is a graphical view of a sample Mind Map and a link to Tony Buzan's website. In case some of you have not gotten a clear idea. After all, and much to the point, "A picture is worth a thousand words."
http://www.mind-map.com/ |
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