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Time has come to show you the progress of The Mind Mapping Team. I picked a couple of interesting subjects that kids brought to me from school and we reworked them using mind maps. I identified plenty of benefits that I am please to share with you.Here is the time to give you some feedback about the members of the TMMT – which stands for The Mind Mapping Team - and what they achieved during the first month of experience. I told you how the story began a couple of weeks ago with an open-air workshop. The participants learned some of the mind map rules and they created their first personal map. My plan is to coach them and follow their progress throughout an entire school year. Let me now show you a couple of interesting educational subjects we picked in their respective curriculum, how we reworked them with the mind mapping technique and what are the benefits for the children.
Vocabulary with Baptiste (9 years old)
Very recently, the teacher gave to the kids a dozen words to remember and to spell correctly. The test consisted in writing the right word in a definition that contained a blank placeholder. Although Baptiste did the exercise in the classroom and wrote the definitions down several times, he was still badly associating some of the words and therefore more study was required.
But what was exactly the problem? Why Baptiste could not associate the new words? It’s simply because he was considering each definition as an indivisible block that he did not fully understand. It was too difficult for him to memorize and associate so many new things without understanding properly the meaning. Indeed the definitions were long sentences and contained other complex words and grammar which were not serving the initial purpose. At the end, he mixed everything, saying for example that a “pasha” was an old cloth or a "piloti", a man applying the law.
And then everything became clear and easy with a mind map. We put a dictionary picture as a central idea and we created a main branch for each new word. Then, I asked Baptiste to read again each definition and extract up to 3 words that were key in the sentence. Without noticing, Baptiste was performing an important task of mind mapping which consists in identifying and selecting keywords for branches. But he was also eliminating all the complexity that the grammar and the language have introduced in the definition. The result was a straightforward mind map with very few terms to memorize and explicit associations between single and simple words. Knowing the rules, Baptiste also proposed to look for images on the internet that could illustrate each definition. Finally, I checked the level of learning by removing all the words and images from the main branches and I asked Baptiste to guess what was written on each main branch only by looking at the keywords that remained on the sub-branches. He did it with ease and without any mistake.Here are 5 key benefits for Baptiste in this exercise : 1) He is self-satisfied to have mastered the lesson without too much effort;2) He understood the importance of keywords compared to long and complex sentences; 3) He discovered the power of associations (both for keyword and images); 4) He achieved more than expected by now being able to rephrase definitions without looking at the sheet; 5) He recognized by himself the benefits of mind mapping and remains motivated to do more of it.
Personal diary project with Robin (13 years old)
Robin was very busy at the beginning of the school year. Soccer is his passion and he reached a level that requires a lot of investment in time and energy. In collaboration with his parent, I would like to experiment how much the use of mind mapping could save him time when learning lessons or doing homework so that he could continue to invest in soccer without jeopardizing school results.
Robin has recently received a project which consists in understanding the characteristics of a personal diary and writing one by Christmas. It’s a fresh request and we have some time to work on it. It will be very interesting to see how mind mapping will help Robin to write a special type of story.
I noticed during my first face-to-face workshop that handmade mind maps would require too much effort for Robin. That had a negative impact on the mental activity he was performing and the underlying goal he was targeting. For the personal diary project, I decided to introduce iMindMap, the mind mapping software. Children of that age have no difficulties to use computers and they are already familiar with most of editing functionalities such as font size and color, alignment, copy and paste, … In iMindMap, it’s easy to understand how to draw a mind map if you know what are the rules. The process is intuitive thanks to a very well-thought user interface.
We have just started the work. The first task we did was to reconsider the paper based theory and we transformed it into an organic mind map which will evolve throughout the project. I invite you to keep following this story and read about Robin’s personal diary project in our next episode.Here are 5 key benefits for Robin in this exercise: 1) He really enjoyed the activity on the computer and he knows now how much it’s easy and fun; 2) He discovered that a mind map creation can be iterative; it is not necessary a one shot; 3)He understood how easy and useful it is to associate images in iMindMap, especially with the use of icons from the library; 4) He developed some autonomy in the mind map design by reorganizing branches several times; 5) He realized that the energy spent to draw the mind map was in fact enough to remember all the characteristics of the lesson.
Poetry with Corentin (6 years old)
One day in October, Corentin came back home with a huge challenge: memorize sixteen lines of poetry. It’s a lot for a kid of his age. Of course, he worked intensively on the subject in the classroom with the teacher but he was still not able to recall entirely and perfectly the poetry. On top, he received the text with some illustrations that he colourized. It helped him somehow to remember what the story was about.
But poetry is more than a story and you have to remember each sentence in detail, all the words it contains in a precise order. So why Corentin could not recall it with so much time already spent on it? Would I have obtained the expected result by asking him to repeat the text again and again whereas he was already in a disappointed mood because of his failures? I had to find a better idea.
I propose to Corentin to rewrite the poetry with a mind map. The principle was quite simple. In the centre, I wrote the poetry title and I drew an image illustrating it. Then we agreed with Corentin that while he was telling the story with as much details as possible, I would create main or sub-branches and I would add illustrations for each sentences in the poetry (not keywords because he’s still unable to read). Of course, each image had to perfectly correspond to the mental representation Corentin had in mind while telling or hearing the sentence. Once the mind map was complete, the last step consisted in checking what gap was remaining between the initial text and the one Corentin was able to recall when looking at the map. For each difficulty, I made the appropriate change in order to obtain a perfect match. Immediately after this process, Corentin was able to visualize the mind map in his head. He told the sixteen line of poetry without any hurdle and he still able to declaim it today.Here are 5 key benefits for Corentin in this exercise: 1) He was much more confident after the use of mind mapping than before; 2) He is proud of the mind map we build together because he’s showing it to everybody; 3) He learned how to visualize mentally a mind map in order to trigger the recall of information; 4) He achieved more than expected by adding a great interpretation to the poetry, having no more difficulties to remember the text; 5) He recognized by himself the benefits of mind mapping and remains motivated to do more of it.
Book summary with Manon (13 years old)
Manon is following what we call in Belgium the secondary school (second cycle of 6 years). Time has come to read several books during the year and pass exam about what you retained from it. When we started to work together, Manon was on the point to finish the first book and I made a small check about the level of knowledge she reached so far. Let’s say that she knew the story superficially but not much more of it.
Why Manon was not able to remember the key elements of the book? Why couldn’t she express its structure efficiently? Isn’t it a bit frustrating for a young student to discover that all the time spent to read hundreds of pages was somehow lost? But Manon wanted to improve herself and increase the probability to succeed. She was particularly open to test the mind mapping technique in this specific case. She surprised me a lot with the progress she made in a very short time. She’s my proudest so far.
I taught her a technique for collecting meaningful information while reading a book. Basically, you have to capture who are the main characters and their characteristics, what is happening to them and why (key adventures in the story), when those events happen in time as well as their places (where) if relevant. But you also need an efficient way to write it down, to access and to update it any time That’s where the mind map brings a lot.
I knew Manon was spending some time on her laptop and on social networks during the evenings. That was a unique occasion for me to test if a teenager was ready to replace some of her recreation time by a mind mapping activity on the same device. I made the bet that she could immediately use iMindMap (ThinkBuzan) so that we could exchange the files electronically and check her progress. She went on the internet and she searched for the book cover image. She found it and with an easy copy and paste, she replaced the central idea of a default mind map. Then, we created a kind of template with main branches for characters, places, moments and adventures. I checked immediately what she understood from the technique by asking her to populate the mind map and its sub-branches with some of the information she could remember from her reading. She was on track. I let her go and reviewed several times the document which was growing days after days until she finished the book. She was ready for the exam.Here are 5 key benefits for Manon in this exercise: 1) She learned a practical technique about how to capture and structure a book story; 2) She discovered that a mind map creation can be iterative; it is not necessary a one shot; 3) She understand that the mind map is only a support for achieving another goal; 4) She passed the exam and got a very good score; 5) She realized that the questions were exactly the one she had answered on the mind map, which reinforced the idea that she used the right technique.
You will discover even more benefits of mind map by coming back from time to time and by following those amazing young people experiences. Do not hesitate to subscribe to the RSS feed or via e-mail if you wish remained informed.
The Mind Mapping Team (TMMT) hopes to see you next time.
Be open minded!
Be creative!
Very recently, the teacher gave to the kids a dozen words to remember and to spell correctly. The test consisted in writing the right word in a definition that contained a blank placeholder. Although Baptiste did the exercise in the classroom and wrote the definitions down several times, he was still badly associating some of the words and therefore more study was required.
But what was exactly the problem? Why Baptiste could not associate the new words? It’s simply because he was considering each definition as an indivisible block that he did not fully understand. It was too difficult for him to memorize and associate so many new things without understanding properly the meaning. Indeed the definitions were long sentences and contained other complex words and grammar which were not serving the initial purpose. At the end, he mixed everything, saying for example that a “pasha” was an old cloth or a "piloti", a man applying the law.
"It was much easier to associate and understand ideas in my head once I started to use keywords on a mind map." (Baptiste)
And then everything became clear and easy with a mind map. We put a dictionary picture as a central idea and we created a main branch for each new word. Then, I asked Baptiste to read again each definition and extract up to 3 words that were key in the sentence. Without noticing, Baptiste was performing an important task of mind mapping which consists in identifying and selecting keywords for branches. But he was also eliminating all the complexity that the grammar and the language have introduced in the definition. The result was a straightforward mind map with very few terms to memorize and explicit associations between single and simple words. Knowing the rules, Baptiste also proposed to look for images on the internet that could illustrate each definition. Finally, I checked the level of learning by removing all the words and images from the main branches and I asked Baptiste to guess what was written on each main branch only by looking at the keywords that remained on the sub-branches. He did it with ease and without any mistake.Here are 5 key benefits for Baptiste in this exercise : 1) He is self-satisfied to have mastered the lesson without too much effort;2) He understood the importance of keywords compared to long and complex sentences; 3) He discovered the power of associations (both for keyword and images); 4) He achieved more than expected by now being able to rephrase definitions without looking at the sheet; 5) He recognized by himself the benefits of mind mapping and remains motivated to do more of it. |
| Mind mapping benefits for Baptiste |
Robin was very busy at the beginning of the school year. Soccer is his passion and he reached a level that requires a lot of investment in time and energy. In collaboration with his parent, I would like to experiment how much the use of mind mapping could save him time when learning lessons or doing homework so that he could continue to invest in soccer without jeopardizing school results.
Robin has recently received a project which consists in understanding the characteristics of a personal diary and writing one by Christmas. It’s a fresh request and we have some time to work on it. It will be very interesting to see how mind mapping will help Robin to write a special type of story.
"It's cool and fast to draw a mind map with iMindMap on my computer." (Robin)
We have just started the work. The first task we did was to reconsider the paper based theory and we transformed it into an organic mind map which will evolve throughout the project. I invite you to keep following this story and read about Robin’s personal diary project in our next episode.Here are 5 key benefits for Robin in this exercise: 1) He really enjoyed the activity on the computer and he knows now how much it’s easy and fun; 2) He discovered that a mind map creation can be iterative; it is not necessary a one shot; 3)He understood how easy and useful it is to associate images in iMindMap, especially with the use of icons from the library; 4) He developed some autonomy in the mind map design by reorganizing branches several times; 5) He realized that the energy spent to draw the mind map was in fact enough to remember all the characteristics of the lesson.
 |
| Mind mapping benefits for Robin |
One day in October, Corentin came back home with a huge challenge: memorize sixteen lines of poetry. It’s a lot for a kid of his age. Of course, he worked intensively on the subject in the classroom with the teacher but he was still not able to recall entirely and perfectly the poetry. On top, he received the text with some illustrations that he colourized. It helped him somehow to remember what the story was about.
But poetry is more than a story and you have to remember each sentence in detail, all the words it contains in a precise order. So why Corentin could not recall it with so much time already spent on it? Would I have obtained the expected result by asking him to repeat the text again and again whereas he was already in a disappointed mood because of his failures? I had to find a better idea.
"The pictures and the colours we used on each branch of the mind map allowed me to better remember my poetry." (Corentin)
I propose to Corentin to rewrite the poetry with a mind map. The principle was quite simple. In the centre, I wrote the poetry title and I drew an image illustrating it. Then we agreed with Corentin that while he was telling the story with as much details as possible, I would create main or sub-branches and I would add illustrations for each sentences in the poetry (not keywords because he’s still unable to read). Of course, each image had to perfectly correspond to the mental representation Corentin had in mind while telling or hearing the sentence. Once the mind map was complete, the last step consisted in checking what gap was remaining between the initial text and the one Corentin was able to recall when looking at the map. For each difficulty, I made the appropriate change in order to obtain a perfect match. Immediately after this process, Corentin was able to visualize the mind map in his head. He told the sixteen line of poetry without any hurdle and he still able to declaim it today.Here are 5 key benefits for Corentin in this exercise: 1) He was much more confident after the use of mind mapping than before; 2) He is proud of the mind map we build together because he’s showing it to everybody; 3) He learned how to visualize mentally a mind map in order to trigger the recall of information; 4) He achieved more than expected by adding a great interpretation to the poetry, having no more difficulties to remember the text; 5) He recognized by himself the benefits of mind mapping and remains motivated to do more of it. |
| Mind mapping benefits for Corentin |
Manon is following what we call in Belgium the secondary school (second cycle of 6 years). Time has come to read several books during the year and pass exam about what you retained from it. When we started to work together, Manon was on the point to finish the first book and I made a small check about the level of knowledge she reached so far. Let’s say that she knew the story superficially but not much more of it.
Why Manon was not able to remember the key elements of the book? Why couldn’t she express its structure efficiently? Isn’t it a bit frustrating for a young student to discover that all the time spent to read hundreds of pages was somehow lost? But Manon wanted to improve herself and increase the probability to succeed. She was particularly open to test the mind mapping technique in this specific case. She surprised me a lot with the progress she made in a very short time. She’s my proudest so far.
"It's difficult to believe but true: Manon is making better results in those courses where she used the mind mapping technique to study." (Manon's mother)
I taught her a technique for collecting meaningful information while reading a book. Basically, you have to capture who are the main characters and their characteristics, what is happening to them and why (key adventures in the story), when those events happen in time as well as their places (where) if relevant. But you also need an efficient way to write it down, to access and to update it any time That’s where the mind map brings a lot.
I knew Manon was spending some time on her laptop and on social networks during the evenings. That was a unique occasion for me to test if a teenager was ready to replace some of her recreation time by a mind mapping activity on the same device. I made the bet that she could immediately use iMindMap (ThinkBuzan) so that we could exchange the files electronically and check her progress. She went on the internet and she searched for the book cover image. She found it and with an easy copy and paste, she replaced the central idea of a default mind map. Then, we created a kind of template with main branches for characters, places, moments and adventures. I checked immediately what she understood from the technique by asking her to populate the mind map and its sub-branches with some of the information she could remember from her reading. She was on track. I let her go and reviewed several times the document which was growing days after days until she finished the book. She was ready for the exam.Here are 5 key benefits for Manon in this exercise: 1) She learned a practical technique about how to capture and structure a book story; 2) She discovered that a mind map creation can be iterative; it is not necessary a one shot; 3) She understand that the mind map is only a support for achieving another goal; 4) She passed the exam and got a very good score; 5) She realized that the questions were exactly the one she had answered on the mind map, which reinforced the idea that she used the right technique. |
| Mind mapping benefits for Manon |
The Mind Mapping Team (TMMT) hopes to see you next time.
Be open minded!
Be creative!
I have two children, two boys. Corentin is the youngest and is 5 years old. The eldest, Baptiste, is 8 years old. Like many other children of this age, the most important thing during the day is PLAYING. They like to play individually or together, with balls, board games, game consoles and they also like to watch TV. But of course, like any other kid, they also have some difficulties keeping their bedrooms tidy, they are a bit lazy in studying and their participation in household chores is quite limited except when asked. 
This situation was becoming extremely stressful for both parties. Indeed, it demands a huge amount of energy to check every time if the status is green. It’s particularly stressful to engage with the two boys in the middle of their game, because they will automatically react negatively, considering the intervention unfair, unjustified or inappropriate (especially if they were authorized to play earlier). Although we were usually getting things finally done, it was systematically creating a bad atmosphere, with cries and tears. Worse, we were feeling somehow guilty because we were always stopping and preventing our children from enjoying, trying to remain consistent with the rules we introduced. 
