by What Is Mind Mapping?
Pictures have always been part of gaining or imparting knowledge and information, look at the ancient scriptures and paintings discovered they would tell you. Before the words were invented, humans were recording and documenting things through images and drawings as it is one of the best ways to represent information in an attractive yet informative manner. Today visuals and pictures are being widely used in every sector, especially the benefits of using visuals in the educational field have shown tremendous growth in student learning. The use of education technology and online learning tools also promotes visual learning, however, it’s not the only way through which students can better understand the concepts. There are various methods through which students can learn chapters faster and can have in-depth knowledge of the concepts.
One such visual-learning method is mind maps, and in this article, we will discuss them and know how they benefit students? So keep reading.
What is Mind Mapping?
Mind mapping is a visual method of comprehending and presenting the concepts, keeping one topic as a central concept. It is represented by images and lines, in which a central concept is drawn or written in the centre and sub-topics related to the central concept are represented through lines and then topics related to sub-topics are connected to them. This forms an image like that of maps which makes it easier for students to learn their topics by connecting the dots between the central topic and topics related to it. Mind maps have been proven to be a better way of understanding even complex concepts and theories efficiently, than the normal note-taking method.
Benefits of Using Mind Mapping for Students
Note- Making Made Easy: It is important for students to listen closely to the teacher when he or she is teaching in the classroom to understand what is being taught, but making notes and summarising the topics is important as well. Students take notes during the lecture and then again make fair notes for their better understanding and revision during the exam times. In traditional note-making methods, students write sentences and important points or summaries of chapters, which is time-consuming. However, through mind mapping, students can create quick and easy notes which are also easy to understand.
Easy Revision: Exams are always scary, especially one-to-two days before exams can be extremely stressful for the students. During such times they can’t sit and read every chapter thoroughly, as there is no time for that; it’s then students can use mind maps to recall and revise the important topics and points from each chapter. Instead of going through lengthy notes and essays, students can jot down the mind map. For example, write down the central topic of the chapter, then write the topics that you remember related to it then write another topic doing this will make learning and remembering effortless.
Simplifies The Learning Process: As its name suggests, mind mapping is a map, which means they show the right roadmap for the students to understand the complex concepts in a simplified manner. When students use the traditional form of learning, that is reading the chapter and concepts they can find it dull and difficult to understand things. But using visual aid like mind maps can create simple images of complex topics in students’ minds, which makes learning seem fun and engaging for them. Studies have also shown that using mind maps for teaching has shown better grasping and retention rate of knowledge in students.
Easy Presentation: Mind maps are not just for the reading and revision purposes of students, they can also use the mind mapping diagrams to present their views and answers in the presentations or exams. Even teachers have backed this method of writing the answers, as they have noticed that the answers of students who present their thoughts using mind maps are more sorted and clean, than those who write wordy yet meaningless answers.
Group- Discussion: Teachers can use mind-maps for group discussion during the online class on a classroom app, in which each student can present their thoughts which are related to the central topic resulting in the creation of a massive mind-map of ideas.
