Mind Maps or Conceptual Maps
By Prof. Jonathan Acuña Solano
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Twitter: @jonacuso
Post
170
Though the concept of mind mapping is not new in
education, its value for student development of knowledge cannot be questioned.
Defined as “a type of graphic organizer used to help students organize and
represent knowledge of a subject” (Inspiration.Com, n.d.), mind maps are a need
to help students systematize their readings, their presentations, and their
research projects. Mind Mapping has become a great way to have learners focus
on what the core information on a text is.
Professionally
speaking, I cannot state the fact that I have gotten into any trouble while
working on mind-mapping with learners, but I must suggest other alternative ways
I have used before in my university courses. “Mind maps reflect, -based on
scientific observation of brain cell’s dendrites-, the way human beings store
information in their long-term memory” (Acuña, 2012, September). Based on this
premise, students can develop mind-mapping projects in online platforms such as
Mindomo.Com, a webpage that allows them to create
state-of-the-art maps with pictures, videos and links. For those who like to
use Google Drive, among the apps available to be added, Mind Mups
is a great option to create simple but eye-catching works.
Cmaps, the one option presented by Prof. Fressie
Aguilar, one I must admit had not seen or used before, seems to be a good
option for people who do not have access to the Internet at all times. Since it
is locally run in one’s computer hard drive, it is a good working tool for
teaching professionals who also require students to produce their own mind-maps
or who need to create maps to present concept relations to their students.
Downloadable from http://cmap.ihmc.us/, the tool has great potential for instructors to
create a nice and neat maps for their current or future students, or to engage
them in the production of their own concept maps.
As
mentioned before, the use of mind maps is something I constantly address with
my university students. As a professional in education, I highly recommend
other instructors to use a mind-mapping tool to have learners submit brainstorms
or outlines for speeches or research projects to help them focus on what it is
really important for their presentations or papers. Additionally, mind maps can
become a great tool for students to summarize information in connection to
partial or final examinations.
Acuña, J. (2012, Sept.). Mind Maps as Vocabulary
Enhancers: Three Useful Tools to Explore. Retrieved on 2015, May 9 from the
Reflective Online Teaching webpage at http://reflective-online-teaching.blogspot.com/2012/09/mind-maps-as-vocabulary-enhancers.html
Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition.
(2014). Cmaps [Software]. Available at http://cmap.ihmc.us/
Inspiration Software Inc. (n.d.). Teaching and
Learning with Concept Maps. Retrieved on 2015, May 9 from the Inspiration
Software webpage at http://www.inspiration.com/visual-learning/concept-mapping
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