How to Mind Map: A Beginner’s Guide

Academic Success, IQ Matrix Maps

Mind Mapping is a visual information management tool that enables us to structure, organize, memorize, arrange, brainstorm and learn information in a highly specialized way. In fact, the last 10 years have brought us amazing insights into the human mind and our limitless capacity to think, comprehend and store large reservoirs [...]

Introduction

Mind Mapping is a visual information management tool that enables us to structure, organize, memorize, arrange, brainstorm and learn information in a highly specialized way. In fact, the last 10 years have brought us amazing insights into the human mind and our limitless capacity to think, comprehend and store large reservoirs of information. If anything, these studies have proven that our capacity to think effectively and quickly is very closely tied to our imagination and our ability to create associations between information chunks.

Mind Mapping has come a long way since the early days when Tony Buzan introduced it to the world. It is now on the brink of becoming a mainstream tool that enables academic students, business professionals and many other individuals to tackle and take control of the overwhelming amount of information that we are forced to absorb every single day. Moreover, Mind Mapping is changing shape and form, turning into a Visual information management tool that brings with it a vast amount of flexibility and affordability.

Visual Mapping has come into its own over the past 5 years. There are now more Visual Mapping software applications out in the market than can be counted on our fingers and toes. The world of Information Organization is definitely changing course, and Visual Mapping is quietly becoming the revolutionary tool that will enable the few early adopters to gain a foothold and advantage within their industry. The question is, “Are you on board YET?”

This article post will introduce you to the principles behind Visual Mapping from a “beginner’s” perspective. It will also present you with several Visual Mapping examples utilizing different Mind Mapping software programs; to enable a visual comparison of the features and graphical appeal of each tool. The bulk of the discussion will however be built around the IQ Matrix Mind Map presented at the top of this post. This IQ Matrix is available as a free full color pdf download from the IQ Matrix Shop.

The 1st Branch of this IQ Matrix provides a definition of Mind Mapping. The 2nd Branch delves into the benefits of Mind Mapping. The 3rd Branch describes a variety of uses for Mind Maps. The 4th Branch identifies the industry accepted process of drawing a Mind Map. And finally, the 5th Branch breaks down the rules of Mind Mapping. These Rules are expanded in greater depth and detail within each of the computer generated mind map images presented towards the end of this post.

Defining Mind Mapping

Mind Mapping is a method of storing, organizing, prioritizing, learning, reviewing and memorizing information. It effectively presents an overview and summary of a body of knowledge that fuses words and pictures; helping simulate logic and creativity for proficient and effective thinking practices involving the 5 senses.

The Benefits of Mind Mapping

The benefits of Mind (visual) Mapping are extensive and far reaching in that it naturally expands our biological thinking capacity and ability to think laterally in any given situation.

Here are some of the prolonged benefits experienced by “serial” Mind Mappers (those who regularly utilize Mind Maps to clarify their thinking and organize their ideas):

• Improved capacity to see the bigger picture.
• Improved capacity to see detailed information.
• Improved capacity to remember complex information.
• Improved capacity to remember related chunks of information.
• Improved capacity to cope with mental clutter.
• Improved capacity to cope and manage periods of information overload.
• Improved imagination.
• Improved memory and retention.
• Improved levels of concentration.
• Improved note-taking ability.
• Improved level of interest in the content or subject one is studying.
• Improved problem solving ability.
• Improved management of study and revision time for Academics.
• Helps unlock hidden understandings within information chunks.
• Helps unlock unexpected creative insights and ideas.
• Helps save time.
• Helps make learning fun.
• Clarifies goals.
• Clarifies plans of action.
• Clarifies ideas.
• Clarifies habitual patterns of thinking.
• Triggers creative associations.
• Triggers comparison of facts, stats, data and ideas.
• And much more that is based upon personal experience, need and ability.

All the benefits presented above are of course open for discussion and interpretation. However, keep in mind that the true benefit lies in committing yourself to the act of utilizing Mind Maps for a period of at least two weeks, and measuring the results for yourself.

Remember that you don’t necessarily need to be a visual thinker in order to benefit from this process. Visual Maps after all don’t require the use of images, and can in fact be built entirely around key words and phrases in a somewhat linear fashion. Either way, they will assist you to better organize and manage the ever growing amount of information that comes your way every single day.

Using Mind Maps

Since the dawn of the Internet age, Mind Mapping has been growing steadily as an accepted means of storing and organizing information. Over this time, many people have shared extraordinary tales of how they utilize this Visual Thinking medium to organize, manage and improve their lives.

Mind Mapping for Work Productivity

Here are some ways people utilize visual mapping at work:

• Planning sales strategy.
• Planning marketing strategy.
• Organizing and managing projects.
• Organizing and managing meetings.
• Preparing for networking.
• Preparing for interviews, and conducting interviews.
• Business planning.
• Research and development.

Mind Mapping for Academic Success

Here are some ways students utilize visual mapping at school:

• Learning languages.
• Learning grammar.
• Preparing for examinations.
• Preparing structure for essays.
• Preparing presentations.
• For teaching purposes.
• Brainstorming ideas.
• Problem solving.
• Thinking creatively and critically about topics.
• Memorizing subject notes, books and materials.
• For general study and revision of information.

Mind Mapping for Life Management

Here are some ways people utilize visual mapping to manage their life:

• Managing time.
• Managing events.
• Goal setting.
• Keeping a diary.
• Holiday planning.
• Financial planning.
• Tracking important dates, events and information.

What can be achieved, and the amount of information we can manage at one time using visual Mind Maps is absolutely extraordinary. And this list only scrapes the surface of what is possible.

Drawing Mind Maps

Drawing a Mind Map is a rather simple process once one has a grasp of the basic structure. It’s in fact a process that requires very little step-by-step explanation. For that reason I will present it here as briefly as possible.

Here are some quick guidelines to help you draw your first Mind Map.

• Take a large sheet of paper and place it horizontally in front of you.
• Draw a reasonably sized (colored) memorable central image that represents the topic you are going to be mapping.
• Draw at least 4 thick organic looking branches radiating outwards from the central image. Make sure to use a different color to represent each branch.
• Write “key topic” words along these branches that represent the central image and the topic you are mapping.
• Draw additional branches that extend from your main branches. The words on these branches are essentially sub-topics of the words you wrote on your main branches.
• Keep expanding the Mind Map outwards with additional sub sub-topics / key words and branches.
• Refer to the Mind Mapping Rules presented within the next section to help improve your memory and recall of the information contained within the Mind Map you are creating.

For more information about drawing a Mind Map step-by-step see Drawing a Mind Map from Start to Finish.

Mind Map Rules

The content of this section is built upon the Mind Map software examples presented within the next section. You will gain significantly by downloading these images and referring to them as you move through the content presented here. These Mind Map software screen captures will also provide you with a visual representations of the key points of emphasis discussed below.

In order to improve your memory and recall of the Mind Map you are drawing, it is important to utilize a number of imaginative tools that will help stimulate deeper associations. Keep in mind that it’s not necessary to use all these suggestions, however by incorporating them, you will build a strong long-term memory of the information you are learning.

• Use symbols to classify different types of thoughts and ideas.
• Use “key words” on lines. Short phrases can also work well.
• Use multi-headed arrows of varying color, size, style and dimensions.
• Use codes to help draw your attention to specific sections of the map.
• Use good spacing between topics to separate your ideas.
• Use stimulating images and colors throughout the map.
• Use images to represent words in a metaphorical, “sound-like”, or direct manner.
• Create boundaries and borders to draw attention to specific branches.
• Create linear hierarchies of ordered numbers, lists and letters.
• Create “line” hierarchies; radiating from thick to thin lines.
• Create “word” hierarchies; varying “word sizes” to emphasize importance.
• Create memorable central image and associative pictures.
• Draw different shapes to represent ideas and segments of the map.
• Draw multi-dimensional words and objects.
• Draw thick branches that radiate outwards away from the central image.
• Vary “word” case. Use UPPER and lower case to emphasize importance of words.
• Vary font styles to separate ideas and topics.
• Vary branch colors in order to separate topics.
• Vary branch endings in order to emphasize words or phrases.
• Vary branch thickness in order to highlight specific ideas.
• Vary image / picture colors, emphasis, and size to enhance memory and recall.

Drawing Mind Maps in this way helps to stimulate imagination while at the same time creating strong associations. And it is these two factors - imagination andassociation - that stimulate long-term memory and recall of information.

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Summary and Overview

Our brain is a wonderful resource, but in many everyday situations we only access part of it.  Mind mapping is a visual method for transferring information and ideas onto paper.  Mind mapping uses the creative resources of the intuitive right brain and the analytical strengths of the logical left brain to give us an efficient means of recording information and a highly stimulating tool for generating creative ideas.  It combines colour, image, space and language to give us a physical, emotional and intellectual relationship with our thinking.  As a result it makes both our experience and recording of our thinking highly memorable.

Mind mapping can be used for planning presentations, recording notes from meetings, designing training courses, planning projects, brainstorming, ordering information and any form of creative endeavour.

This course examines the nature of creativity and thinking, the conceptual techniques of mind mapping, uses of mind mapping, and applications for groups and individuals. Throughout the day participants will learn by applying the techniques to their own circumstances.

This course helps learners to :

• Think clearly and creatively using the whole brain
• Improve planning and problem solving processes
• Make more complete records of meetings which can be referred to with ease
• Use mind mapping as a business tool for group and individual facilitation

Throughout this highly interactive course there are opportunities to practice and test the skills you are learning.

• Creativity
• Metaphor of the eight intelligences
• The multi-ordinate nature of our thinking
• Ways in which our thinking can be stimulated
• The overall concept of the mind map
• Basic Ordering Ideas
• The fundamental structure for recording your thinking
• Technique
• Choosing key words, layout, clarity, association and emphasis.
• Use of Mind Mapping in problem solving, planning, analysis and creativity
• Use of Mind Mapping for taking notes during meetings, learning and reading
• Group Use - preparing and making presentations that are structured, clear, stimulating and interactive.
• Using Mind Maps as a tool for facilitation
• Action planning

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10 Accelerated Learning Techniques

(The following tips come courtesy of the breakthrough audio course "Accelerated Learning Techniques")

1. Teach someone else what you are learning.
Practice the accelerated learning system in short bursts of 30 minutes of study. Take frequent rests. To really soak up the knowledge, plan to teach what you are learning to someone else. Having to be accountable for someone else's learning will make you pay more attention and really learn the material.
2. Ask questions.
Intelligence grows through curiosity. By formulating questions about the subjects you are studying, you become very focussed on getting the answers. You zero in on the information, sifting through it to pick up the important points that answer the questions you set.
3. What's in it for me?
Motivate yourself to concentrate and absorb the info by asking, "What will I get out out of it? How will learning this information benefit me in the long run?" By focussing on all the ways it will benefit you, you give yourself more and more reasons to learn and studying becomes easier.
4. Describe aloud in your own words.
Center yourself, focus on your program of learning and begin describing aloud the information that you have been researching. Paraphrasing aloud, particularly at speed, causes you to dredge up and make conscious what you have learnt, and exposes the gaps in your knowledge that you can re-cover until it is part of you.
5. Draw a picture and write in your own words.
Speed learning involves 8 multiple intelligences, including visual and linguistic. You harness your right brain visual abilities by drawing pictures that help illuminate your notes and which stick in your mind. Mind-mapping is especially recommended. Also draw on your linguistic intelligence by re-writing the information you are studying in your own words. This all helps change the information from something that is alien and foreign to something that is familliar and comfortable and accessible.

6. Test the knowledge.
Ask logical questions to test the authenticity of what you are studying. Is it true? You have to be like a renaissance man, and be willing to test established knowledge. Distance yourself from any emotional involvement with the knowledge, and systematically pull and tug on it, testing it from every angle. Critical thinking and examination of the knowledge will deepen your understanding and speed your absorbtion of the subject.
7. Involve other senses.
You are multi-sensual, multi-intelligence being. Reading brings words in through the eyes and has limitations as a means of effective learning. Use pictures too. Record the information onto tape, and/or listen to audio tapes on the subject or watch videos about it. Stimulate your tactile senses with different fabrics, different chairs, by getting a foot massage etc. Eat something unusual whilst you are learning. The taste can become anchored to the info and will help you recall it. The same with smell. The memory of smells is the most immediate memory system. Rub some lavender oil on your wrists, as you start your study program, then when you want to recall the info at a later date simply get out the same aromatherapy oil and sniff. Stimulating your senses will help the info come flooding back to your conscious mind.
8. Move about.
Sometimes we learn best by doing, so get into action. If your area of study involves physical skills, then get doing them. Otherwise, ride an exercise bike while reading; go for a walk whilst listening to your audio notes; have sex while playing the info in the background! Kinesethetic movement locks knowledge in.
9.Visualise the end result.
See yourself practicing the skill you are learning or using the information you are studying as an expert. It's locked in to your brain and fully and easily accessible to you.
10. Peak state and PMA.
Develop a positive mental attitude towards your learning program. The principle of positivity will flood your system with feel-good endorphins and just make the whole training so much easier and more pleasurable. Get into a peak state for studying, by using the techniques of NLP to create 'anchors' to peak emotional states. Basically when you begin a study session: stretch, sit up straight, put a smile on your face and approach your studies with positive expectations.

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The Impact of Quantum Learning by Bobbi DePorter

The perpetual question facing our education system is how to improve students' academic performance on standardized tests, enhance teachers' instructional techniques and increase student achievement overall. What's working and by what evidence?

A recent study, Quantum Learning's Impact on Achievement in Multiple Settings, was completed by William Benn.  Benn, an External Evaluator for Program Improvement Schools, approved by the California Department of Education, studied the impact of the Quantum Learning model on 18 schools in four states.

The schools were chosen for their degree of commitment to Quantum Learning. All had implemented Quantum Learning over a number of years with a majority of their staff participating. High implementation and 'buy-in' from staff is a key component that correlates to the success of any method.

New Lexington Elementary School in the El Monte School District in California was one of the schools chosen for the study. New Lexington began conducting the Quantum Learning school wide reform model during the 2001-2002 school year and have continued through 2003. The results of the Academic Performance Index (API) scores from 2001 and 2002 indicate that New Lexington made statistically and educationally significant gains in academic achievement compared to 44 comparison schools. It also showed gains based on SAT-9 results. New Lexington Principal, Karen Smith commented, "Quantum Learning strategies played a key role in raising our students' literacy levels. In addition, I'm seeing a renewed sense of energy and purpose in my teachers' classrooms that truly helps to 'hook' students. When I see students get excited about learning, I get excited too."

In all 18 schools, Benn's study found that the Quantum Learning model demonstrated a consistent pattern of positive impact on student achievement. These outstanding results ranged from statistically and educationally significant gains in reading, mathematics, writing to more comprehensive measures of core academic achievement. Students whom attend schools that use the Quantum Learning model show a pattern of greater achievement than comparison sample students that have not been taught these strategies.

What is the Quantum Learning (QL) model? Quantum Learning is a comprehensive model that covers both educational theory and immediate classroom implementation. It integrates research-based best practices in education into a unified whole, making content more meaningful and relevant to students' lives.

Quantum learning is about bringing joy to teaching and learning with ever-increasing 'Aha' moments of discovery. It helps teachers to present their content a way that engages and energizes students. This model also integrates learning and life skills, resulting in students who become effective lifelong learners – responsible for their own education.

The FADE model—Foundation, Atmosphere, Design, Environment—creates the context of Quantum Learning. We know when the context is strong, it 'fades' into the background and creates the structure for learning to occur.

Quantum Learning begins with a strong foundation built on the principles of the 8 Keys of Excellence. It holds the beliefs that: All people can learn, people learn differently, and learning is effective when it is joyful, engaging and challenging. The 8 Keys of Excellence include: Integrity, Commitment, Failure Leads to Success, Ownership, Speak with Good Purpose, Flexibility, This Is It!, and Balance. The 8 Keys of Excellence can be integrated into all subjects and grade levels. The 8 Keys are best implemented when parents and community leaders support and reinforce the Keys.

The Quantum Learning framework for student learning is expressed in 5 Tenets of Learning: Everything Speaks: Everything, from surroundings and tone of voice to distribution of materials, conveys an important message about learning. Everything is On Purpose: Everything we do has an intended purpose.Experience Before Label: Students make meaning and transfer new content into long-term memory by connecting to existing schema. Learning is best facilitated when students experience the information in some aspect before they acquire labels for what is being learned.Acknowledge Every Effort: Acknowledgment of each student's effort encourages learning and experimentation.If It's Worth Learning, It's Worth Celebrating!: Celebration provides feedback regarding progress and increases positive emotional associations with the learning.

Quantum Learning creates an empowering atmosphere of trust, safety and a sense of belonging. Establishing engaging, focused traditions creates a sense of belonging and safety and is an effective strategy for classroom management, focusing attention and motivating students to increase participation in learning. Each school day begins with a morning routine and purposeful first statement. These routines are designed to immediately focus students and create resourceful learning states.

Quantum Learning Design Frame
The QL Design Frame that drives the presentation and facilitation of content was formulated from many years of research on effective delivery methods and is the structural frame upon which content is designed to ensure student mastery. The elements (that are aligned with Dr. Georgi Lozanov's learning cycle) are:

Enroll—Use teacher moves that capture the interest, curiosity and attention of the students.Experience—Create or elicit a common experience, or tap into common knowledge to which all learners can relate. Experience before Label creates schema on which to build new content.Learn & Label—Present, sequence and define the main content. Students learn labels, thinking skills and academic strategies. Students add new content to their existing schema.Demonstrate—Give students an opportunity to demonstrate and apply their new learning.Review and Reflect—Use a variety of effective, multi-sensory review strategies and empower students to process their new content through reflection.Celebration—Acknowledge the learning. It cements the content and adds a sense of completion.

Quantum Learning creates a supportive physical environment that enhances and reinforces learning. Ideal learning environments include proper lighting, purposeful color, positive affirmation posters, plants, props and music. These elements are easy to include in one's classroom, and students enjoy learning more in a comfortable setting.

The key is to create empowering school environments that build engaging and dynamic communities of learning. The results are enhanced teacher capacity and increased student achievement.

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