Week 1

In the very first week, we learnt how to make mind maps.It is very helpful  to enlarge a topic and  and find different words related to that topic with the use of mind maps. It helps children to build their vocabulary and a very useful source for teachers.

I went through the definition of mind maps on the wikipeadia and I found out a lot of information about the mind maps, that is, a mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid to studying and organizing information, solving problems, making decisions, and writing.The elements of a given mind map are arranged intuitively according to the importance of the concepts, and are classified into groupings, branches, or areas, with the goal of representing semantic or other connections between portions of information. Mind maps may also aid recall of existing memories.( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map).

We can also say that mind maps are the geographical way of representing and sorting out the ideas and  words related to a same topic. They are a tree format of topics and we can use different colours to differentiate the terminology.

 Mind maps are very useful in the school. It is a visual presentation of ideas and helps children to enhance their visualisation skills about  different topics. During my practicum I use mind maps to brainstorm different words for different topics like season, under the sea and farm animals and farm life on the interactive whiteboard in my class. For writing, I used the similar pattern as well. Children loved to make mind maps actually and they did well.

Here is the mind map that I made during the class session. 

VELS Reference :-

Why use ICT rather than pen and paper?

Benefits include:

•the immediacy of results (the effects of changes in a thinking strategy are seen almost instantly).

•the ease of modifying work in response to changes of thinking. This encourages flexibility, risk taking and perseverance.

•the greater impact of onscreen visuals (using colour, different fonts, symbols and animation) encourages persistence and deeper thinking.

•the possibility of dual coding, for example, using two different data types such as sound and text or numbers and animations to systematically assess ideas. For example, through the Level 4 Economics standard students develop understanding about the role of budgeting and saving. A learning activity utilising a spreadsheet could assist students to develop this understanding.


Categories of ICT tools for visualising thinking :-


Generally ICT tools may be classified into three broad categories.

Graphic organisers (Doc - 102KB) are created using any ICT tool that enables students to link symbols (words, shapes, images) in such a way that constructs a visual representation of the thoughts, ideas, patterns and associations they are forming in their mind. Examples include:

•mindmaps (http://axon.hst-fan.co.uk/t_creative.gif)

•fishbone diagrams

•spidermaps (Doc - 68KB)

•venn diagrams (Doc - 24KB)


These might range from simple 2D diagrams to sophisticated hypermedia documents containing hyperlinks that open up more and more associations for complex ideas.

The spider map for example, can be used to provide scaffolding to students new to graphic organisers as it presents a structure for them to begin with. The example below identifies six aspects of a project students need to consider when preparing their response. The ‘spider body’ contains the project name and the ‘spider legs’ have blank horizontal lines attached to them to encourage students to think about at least two elements they must investigate or learn about. The students’ responses are displayed in the boxes.