ETEC 522 – May 2012

My experience with mind mapping

Hi Group 5:

I enjoyed your presentation on mind mapping software.  I’ve always thought of concept maps as learning tools but you’ve used it quite effectively as a teaching tool.

As a science teacher, I would rate concept mapping as one of my top educational tools to engage students in deeper thinking and metacognition.  I’ve used it in three basic ways;

1.       As an advanced organizer to elicit and activate students prior knowledge.  This is usually done in collaborative group situations before pulling all ideas together into a whole class mind-map.  This is an excellent form of formative assessment as it allows the teacher to see any learning gaps and misconceptions.

2.       As a note-taking tool be students as they work through a problem-based or project-based learning situation.  The mind map provides them the structure and focus necessary to keep research on topic while floating through the massive amounts of information available on the internet.  It also forces them to organize the information in such a way that it becomes easier to produce and well-organized product such as a video, poster, Powerpoint presentation, etc.  A quick review by the teacher allows assessment of where the students are at and where they may need to go.

3.       As a review device in content-heavy units.  Taking notes and other resources obtained through a unit, allows the student to resynthesize the information to represent what is in their own mind.  Through self-analysis, the student can determine the areas where they are weak (heavy reliance on resources) and strong (create mind-map from memory).  In reviewing these in a whole-class setting, the teacher can strengthen any weak areas consistent across the class.

In all of these cases in the last few years, I have been moving from paper based mind maps to computer generated maps (IHMC Cmap and VUE).  This has allowed easier sharing and modification.  It also allows me to project the maps on my interactive whiteboard and manipulate changes through whole-class discussion.  One feature that I have not found in any software to date is the ability to combine and analyze differences in maps generated by different groups in the class.  This would be a handy tool to generate further metacognitive activity in the students.

I have not begun using the collaborative mind mapping software such as Cacoo.  I can certainly see advantages to using this as it allows anytime/anywhere access and multiple students can work on the same map at the same time.  From an educational perspective, I see concept mapping tools and software as an excellent venture proposition but, due to market saturation of currently available tools, a new venture would need to be able to do something significantly different or better to be a viable venture.

Tim