Life Articles

One of the greatest challenges teachers face is preparing an engaging and enriching lesson plan for students. There are many tools a teacher can use to make this process easier. However, very few of these methods will contain the advantages found in Mind Mapping. Mind Maps are far more intuitively laid out than most traditional lesson plans, because they are presented spatially, rather than linearly, and are “mapped” out across the page. Moreover, because Mind Maps are comprised of colors, visual images, and pictures, instead of just words, they allow the brain to process the information contained in them in a manner more consistent with natural brain functioning. Mind Maps are an effective and creative way to help teachers design lesson plans, and they can make the process of teaching students a lot simpler.

Using Mind Mapping to Construct a Lesson Plan

At minimum, a good lesson plan usually contains six key components. The first component is the key concept of the lesson, namely, what the teacher wants the students to learn about the topic. The key concept should be represented in the center of the Mind Map. The second component of a good lesson plan is the objective, or the skill the teacher intends to teach, and which he or she wants the students to learn as a result of the lesson. For instance, the teacher’s objective may be to teach students the letters of the alphabet, resulting in the students being able to recite the alphabet from memory. The objective should be connected to the key concept via a “branch”. If the teacher has more than one topic, he or she can list them on multiple “branches”. The third component of the lesson plan is the pre-planning materials. The pre-planning materials are any materials that must be prepared in preparation of teaching the lesson. The pre-planning materials component should be attached to the topic(s) via a “child branch”. The fourth component is the student materials, or the materials the children need to successfully complete the lesson. The student materials component should also be attached to the topic(s) via a “child branch”. Though attached to the same topic(s), the pre-planning materials and student materials components should be shown in separate areas of the Mind Map, on either side of the topic(s), with the specific materials to be used flowing out of them via new “child branches” or “twigs”. Fifthly is the procedure component. The procedure component lists the steps a teacher intends to take when teaching the lesson, including sample questions. As with the previous two components, this component should also be attached to the topic(s) via a “child branch”. The “child branch” should extend below the main topic, off to the side, and have the steps of the procedure attached to it via “child branches” or “twigs”. The last component of a successful lesson plan is the closure, or the summary of the lesson to the students.¹ On the Mind Map, this component should be attached to the key concept via a “branch” located below the key concept. The attached Mind Map diagram shows an example of a teacher lesson plan “mapped out” in the manner described.

Teaching the Lesson From the Mind Map

Once the Mind Map outlining the lesson plan is completed, the teacher can easily see all of the components for his or her lesson “mapped out”, with colors, visuals, and picture associations included. This mentally and visually stimulating representation of his or her lesson plan makes it simple for him or her to interpret, process and internalize the lesson. Thus, the teacher will have more thoroughly learned the lesson, and can more naturally impart the lesson to the students.

1. Source: www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/fieldexperiences/pdfs/lessonplanhunter.pdf

One of the biggest obstacles to successful academic performance for students is lack of organization. A student can often get bogged down in the maze of class schedules, homework assignments, and extra-curricular activities. Today there are an almost limitless number of computer software tools available to help one organize scheduled activities. However, few contain the advantages found in Mind Mapping software. With Mind Mapping software, one is able to organize multiple activities using a simple process of “mapping out” components in a spatial and creatively graphic format. Students, thus, can use a Mind Mapping software tool to create a schedule that is intuitive and visually stimulating, facilitating mental processing and recall.

What is Mind Mapping Software?

Mind Mapping software is a software that is used to create pictures, diagrams, and other graphic visuals in order to show the relationship between ideas or other types of information.¹ With Mind Maps, the key concept or main idea of the information being presented is represented by a central image, located in the center of the map. Any themes surrounding the main topic are shown on “branches” that are attached to the central image, with subsequent themes of less importance attached by “twigs”. The resulting diagram is a “map” of the ideas and information shown in a spatial, rather than linear, format. Moreover, along with the ideas shown on the map are images, visual graphics, and colors that the constructor of the “map” associates with each of the themes and ideas. Mapping out information in this manner is widely believed to allow the brain to process the information in manner more consistent with its natural functioning.

Using a Mind Map to Construct an Academic Schedule

On any given weekday, it would not be uncommon to find a student wandering the halls of an institution asking herself, “English or History class? Cheerleading squad or Swim practice? What am I supposed to do next?” In order to make what “to do next” easier to remember, she might consider organizing her schedule using a Mind Map. The student can begin by representing the topic of the Mind Map, her academic schedule, in the center of the map. She can then divide the map into five sections, each representing a day of the week, using “branches” that are attached to the central topic. It is next that she can begin filling out her Mind Map with the specifics of her schedule using “child branches” attached to the corresponding weekday. She might use any colors, images, or graphics she chooses to help make her map more intuitive. When she has finished with her Mind Map, it may resemble something like the attached Mind Map diagram of an academic schedule.

Using the Mind Map to Facilitate Recall

The student is now set. Having used a Mind Mapping software tool to construct a map, she has her entire academic schedule organized in way that makes it easier to remember. She has selected, and included, the graphics, words and pictures shown in the map, and that make sense with the way she thinks about her schedule. She has also organized the information using colors that she associates with specific components of the map. For instance, she has used the color blue, the color of her cheerleading uniform, to represent Tuesday, because it reminds her that she has cheerleading squad practice on that day. Points of association such as these help jog her memory, and make it easy for her to visualize each day of the week and the various activities she has to do during them. The student no longer has to worry about where “to be next”.

1. Farrand, Paul; Hussain, Fearzana and Hennessy, Enid (May 2002). “The efficacy of the ‘mind map’ study technique”. Medical Education 36 (5): 426–431.