Teach learners to create concept or mind maps. Maps can be wonderful tools to nurture creative and critical thinking. A concept map (Novak, 1998) is a way to represent knowledge and show the relationship of ideas and concepts while mind-mapping (Buzan and Buzan 2010) involves creating a diagram of a central idea or concept with details branching or radiating from it in a tree like fashion. Both concept maps and mind maps can facilitate idea generation and follow through (Malycha & Maier, 2017; Simper, Reeve &Kirby). They help learners brainstorm ideas and organize their thoughts in a non-linear fashion, often resulting in finding previously undetected relationships and new connections.
There are several apps that students can use to generate maps:
- Mindmeister at http://mindmeister.com has a free version to use and is my favorite. I used it to create the map below. The only thing I don’t like is that the capacity to free draw is limited (notice my weak attempt at a tree).
- Coggle at https://coggle.it also has a free version. What I like about it is that you can invite people to collaborate with you on a map.
- Mindjet http://mindjet.com will give you a free 30 day trial- I have not yet tried it.
Of course, maybe the best idea is to draw a map with good old-fashioned chart paper and markers?
Have you tried mind mapping? If so, please share a pic of a map you or your students have generated.
Have you found an App for creating Maps that you like? Let us know.
