mind maps

[mummypig]

My 6 yr old ds1 is a far more visual learner than I ever was. Recently he really impressed me by remembering loads of stuff about Brunel (the engineer) and it turned out he had done a mind map with the information on, prompted by his current school teacher.

It seems like mind maps might be a really good tool for ds2 as he grows up. Can anyone point me in the direction of a good book or website to explain to me how to do them?

Thanks

Tony Buzan is the main man on this

www.buzanworld.com/

I use them a lot with the kids I teach, tey are fun and a great revision/planning aid/tool for formative assessment.

In essence simple ones can be done by giving the kids the key words on a topic on slips of paper.

Get them to draw out the topic title in the middle of a page. They can move the key words round, clustering words that have things in common (so if you were doing photosynthesis in plants you would cluster chloroplast and chrorophyll, for exa mple) Whe the kids are happy they can stick down the key words. The more connections that you can make between the key words, the better you understand the topic. You can then illustrate it, link key concepts in specific colours etc etc.

Have a look at the books but it is fairly basic stuff tbh

I took part in a really interesting training day for my school a few years ago on this. Totally agree with Martianbishop about Tony Buzan's work.

I found the 'mapwise' stuff useful as it ties in all the various research on mind-mapping, and gives practical ways of using it. I'll warn you that most of it is geared towards KS2 and upwards (from 7/8 years) but we found it was easily adapted for younger children. Very effective.

I think mind maps may be one of those things that really shows up people's different learning styles. I absolutely cannot stand using them, though I do see why people like them. I like to list things down a sheet of paper, etc, and yet I'm not at all organized, and think in quite a chaotic manner. But I think you do need to try all these things out to see what works for you.

Thanks all of you and I shall have a look at that Mapwise book. I agree with you Habbibu, they have never helped me. I appear to be a lists person too.