Amazing Way to Improve Child Learning (Mind Map)

“This Article introduces the wonderful world of Mind Maps. It explains exactly what a Mind Map is and the key ingredients in this incredible thinking tool, as well as the essential steps to creating one. Most importantly, you will begin to understand how Mind Maps allow you to unlock your true brain potential.

Whole-brain Thinking

Both the beauty and the impact of this holistic thinking tool lie in its simplicity. On paper, it is a colorful visual diagram used to capture information. However, it does this in a way that appeals to the cortical workings of the brain. It activates “whole-brain” thinking, engaging both the logical left-hand side of the brain and its creative right-hand hemisphere.

The notion of the brain’s two divided ways of thinking was first popularised by American artist Betty Edwards in her ground-breaking book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Published in 1979, the book was based on Dr Edwards’ understanding of neuroscience, in particular the Nobel Prize-winning work of Dr Roger W. Sperry (1913–94), which she used to introduce a revolutionary way of drawing and teaching. She argued that the brain has two ways of perceiving and processing reality: the left side of the brain is verbal and analytical, while the right side is visual and perceptual. Her teaching method was designed to bypass the censorship of the brain’s analytical left-hand side and to free up the expressiveness of the right hemisphere. She went on to found “the Center for the Educational Applications of Brain Hemisphere Research, and her work continues to influence artists and teachers around the world today.”

How to Create a Mind Map

So, what does Mind Mapping look like in practice? Let’s start by making a basic Mind Map.

GETTING STARTED

You will need:

1. A large sheet of plain white paper

2.A selection of coloured pens or pencils

3. A brain

4. An open mind

5. Imagination

6. A subject that you wish to explore

A good Mind Map has three essential characteristics:

1. A central image that captures the main subject under consideration. For example, if you were using a Mind Map to plan a project, you could put a sketch of a folder in the centre. No special artistic skill is needed to create a good Mind Map.

2. Thick branches radiating out from the central image. These branches represent the key themes relating to the main subject, and each one is represented by a different colour. In turn, the main branches sprout subsidiary branches – twigs, if you like, in the form of second- and third-level branches – which relate to further associated themes.

3. A single key image or word is placed on each branch.

Step 1: Place the sheet of paper (horizontally)

Step 2: Now pick a colour and draw a thick branch coming away from the central image”

Step 3: Label the branch with a single word in capital letters.”

Step 4: Send out secondary-level shoots from the main branch. Then draw third-level branches that spread out from these secondary-level shoots”

Step 5: Pick another colour and create your next main branch, working around the central image.

Step 6: Now you have your main branches, move freely around your Mind Map, leaping from branch to branch, filling in any gaps and adding new sub-branches as ideas and associations occur to you.

Step 7 : If you wish, add arrows, curving lines and links between your main branches to reinforce the connections between them.

Sunita Sarda | Advocate, Image and Soft skills Coach, Blogger and a Reiki Practitioner