Skip to main content

7 modern ways teachers use Mind Mapping


In this third and final post in the series, Steve Molyneux, ThinkBuzan Licensed Instructor, CEO of the iPad Academy and Apple Distinguished Educator, provides us with an insight into 7 innovative ways for teachers to utilise Mind Mapping with iMindMap HD for the iPad in the classroom.
Finding innovative teaching methods to keep students engaged is a constant struggle for teachers. Mind Mapping, as a technique, has been used as a tool for creativity and visual thinking in the classroom since its invention by Tony Buzan in the 1970s.

iMindMap allows students to create organic Mind Maps and is the ideal tool for facilitating individual or group brainstorming sessions, making lesson plans and handouts, setting creative homework tasks and creating presentations.
With the classroom exercises and ideas outlined below, you’ll be able to see how iMindMap encourages students to engage in classroom activities, unleash their creativity and become more independent learners.

1) Create templates

iMindMap is pre-loaded with a range of customisable templates. However, teachers can also create their own templates in iMindMap and issue the templates to students for them to complete as homework or during lessons. This exercise always works well as the template provides students with direction and acts as a foundation for them to build upon.

2) Connect the iPad to the projector

The projector is a fundamental tool in the classroom. If you’re using the iMindMap HD app for the iPad, you can connect the class iPad to the projector at the front of the classroom. This a great way to display information for everyone to see. Teachers can walk around the classroom holding the iPad, ask students to express their ideas and then add the ideas to the Mind Map in iMindMap HD. With the ideas clearly visible on the whiteboard, students will be more eager to contribute in class discussions so that their ideas feature in the Mind Map.

3) Paired work for students

Paired work is an essential activity for students of any age. Teachers can ask students to brainstorm ideas for a specific topic in iMindMap HD using a shared iPad. Once all the ideas have been collected and consolidated, the teacher can then assign a branch from the map to each pair and ask them to research it in greater depth. Remember to add the names of students who are researching each branch on the Mind Map, ready for the next lesson.

4) Peer review exercises

With an in-app subscription to iMindMap Freedom, students are able to share their work through the iMindMap Cloud. The students can easily engage in peer review exercises, build upon ideas and add their own comments to the map. Reviewing each other’s work allows students to think more objectively and gain new ideas to improve their own individual Mind Maps.

5) ‘Illustrate and explain’ exercises

We all know the phrase “a picture says a thousand words”. During brainstorming sessions, ask students to use images from the computer or from iMindMap’s built-in image library to represent their ideas in their Mind Map. Student should explain their ideas and say how the images chosen illustrate them. This exercise works well for students with poor writing skills who may lack confidence in their written ability. Also, several studies have shown that images enhance long-term memory and recall of information.

6) Assessing student performance

iMindMap can also be used to analyse the progress of each student throughout the year. Teachers can highlight the student’s strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement. For younger students, it is beneficial to print a copy of the Mind Map to provide at parent’s evening. The Mind Map is a great point of reference to assess how well a student is performing and developing over time.
Please see the example ‘Performance Coaching’ template here.

7) Developing research techniques

To aid independent learning, teachers provide students with basic background information. The students then research the topic in greater depth online, recording their findings in iMindMap. Students can attach multimedia resources to their maps with web links, text notes, audio notes and video links, enabling efficient referencing. In addition, this exercise helps students memorise information, as all the key findings are visible in an easy-to-read Mind Map – a valuable revision tool.

Why iMindMap?

“There is often the misconception that iMindMap is just an electronic version of the hand drawn technique. Although iMindMap does not replace hand drawn maps, it adds a new dimension to brainstorming. The multi-media capabilities add so much value to the learning experience – which is ideal for technology savvy educators. iMindMap has the capability to do everything the hand drawn technique does, and so much more.”

Steve’s Final Thoughts on iMindMap in education…

“Previously, the teacher controlled what the student learnt and the learning tools which children had access to. However, with the development of ‘smart’ mobile devices such as iPads, students are now taking control of their own learning. Introducing them to tools such as iMindMap at a young age gives them the opportunity to develop key life skills such as independent research, critical thinking, creativity and analytical skills.”
———————————————————————————————————————

Interested in iMindMap for your school?


ThinkBuzan has a new educational app available for schools, iMindMap EDU. We offer significant educational volume discounts on iMindMap EDU, so for an official quotation please contact our Sales Team.

You can also download a free trial of iMindMap desktop software here.
Md. Nasir Khan
Director
Central Academic Research & Development
(CARD), Manipur Creative School
ThinkBuzan Licensed Instructor
MindMap, iMindMap, MemorySkills,
SpeedReading & CreativeTeaching
: @smart_nasirkhan
: @nasirkhanlive
:9612016722
https://thinknasir.blogspot.in

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3 ways to get more done with less time & less stress

3 ways to get more done with less time & less stress April 4th, 2013 by iMindMap Getting organised with Mind Maps The past two decades have seen meteoric advances in the way we communicate and work; with emails, Facebook, SMS, Twitter, Skype, Ping, blogs, feeds and a vast array of other indispensable forms of ‘connecting’ and absorbing information. With such resources at our disposal productivity should be soaring, shouldn’t it? But whilst the world is now at your fingertips, you are, unfortunately, equally within reach of the world. Using Mind Maps can help you to cut out that background noise and is proven to improve productivity by 20% – that means you can gain an extra working day every week! Here are 3 ways to get started in your productivity overhaul using iMindMap… 1. Plan Your Day This practice will take you just 5 minutes at the start of the day, and can end up saving you a lot of time and hassle. Begin with your Central Idea as today and create a main bra...
Post a Comment
Read more

7 ways to use iMindMap as a teacher

www.thinkbuzan.com December 2nd, 2014 by iMindMap Teaching effectively centres around the ability to plan and deliver effective, engaging lessons throughout the entire school year. As a teacher, we know that time is often in short supply, and so here are seven ways in which  iMindMap  can help you find a little bit more of it, by improving your lesson planning, preparation and delivery. 1. Curriculum Planning Mind Mapping your curriculum plans can save you time, as well as vastly improve the structure and clarity of your teaching. Having a visual overview of your plan will also allow you to easily spot the gaps where you have forgotten something, ensuring you have everything covered. A good place to start is by brainstorming ideas. With iMindMap’s  Brainstorm View* , you can add everything about a topic to the infinite cork-board canvas. Type away on the coloured sticky notes and group your ideas together. When you have finished, select the Mind Map Vie...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mind Mapping for Memory: Why is it useful?

April 29th, 2013 by iMindMap In this guest post, Thomas Jones, a Psychology student who spent some time working with us at the ThinkBuzan Headquarters, applies his know-how to Mind Mapping and the cognitive processes and theories behind the technique… Mind mapping is one of the most powerful tools in anyone’s arsenal when it comes to remembering vast quantities of information; it provides the user with their own personal tree of knowledge on a subject of their choice. Semantic Network Model One of the ideas behind Mind Maps is Semantic Network Models (Collins & Quillian, 1969) which says that everyone has their own personal spider’s web, connecting everything they know about objects together, e.g. Red is connected to fire, blood, love. If one section of the networking models is activated, the surrounding links are activated. Our own personal experiences shape these connections and everybody’s semantic network models are different. Mind Mapping takes a certain subject an...
Post a Comment
Read more