5 ways to use a mind map during your lessons
Thomas Courtley
Education Specialist
The mind map is one of the most loved features in LessonUp. It collects all students’ answers, ideas or considerations in one slide, and gives teachers the possibility to easily group or reposition students’ input based on the outcomes they want to achieve. However, outcomes differ, and there are many ways to use a mind map during a lesson. Here we indicate the five most common ways teachers prefer to use this feature.
1. Activate prior knowledge
Many teachers use mind maps to activate students' prior knowledge. By organising and providing feedback on learners’ prior knowledge, new learning material is digested better. As you know, the pedagogy behind it is connected to the Cognitive Load Theory—if we don’t revise previously anchored memories, remembering old information will hinder us from acquiring new information and making it stick.
Starting a lesson with a mind map is a great way of making space for new information, and of building on the foundation of what students already know.
2. Reinforce understanding through examples
Imagine your students have recently absorbed a wealth of information, perhaps delving into topics like natural disasters and plate tectonics during their geography lessons. By incorporating a significant image, such as one depicting the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, at the core of a digital mind map, you can prompt your students to analyse what transpired before and after the captured moment.
Even if learners lack specifics about the image's location or timing, their knowledge of a topic can help them understand the events preceding and following the scene.
3. Encourage self-reflection and critical thinking
Use a mind map to create a matrix template that acts as a revision tool for your students, and as a way to organise their learning. It stimulates them to think critically about what they already know, what they don’t know well enough, what they might inadvertently know, and what they might be missing. This kind of reflective practice is well-suited for home learning, and can easily be incorporated in a student portfolio.
You can share a learning matrix in various formats: for independent completion, as an informative slide for reference, or integrate it as an interactive element into your lessons.
4. Organise learning in different categories
Categorising information provides students with several cognitive benefits and aids in their learning process. It is a powerful tool that supports students in organising, understanding, and recalling knowledge. It promotes critical thinking, reduces cognitive load, and enhances overall learning effectiveness. LessonUp’s mind map facilitates the act of dragging information to different categories, and forming different groupings.
This way of using a mind map helps recall knowledge, and therefore it can be helpful as a revision tool in preparation for an exam, or as a standard part of a student portfolio.
This article from SaveMyExams offers valuable information on using mind maps as revision tools for exam success.
5. Create links between different topics
Creating links between different topics is a great way to consolidate knowledge by fostering synthesis, application, problem-solving skills, and long-term retention. It transforms learning from isolated pieces of information into a meaningful web of understanding. This process is often referred to as ‘interdisciplinary learning’ or ‘connecting learning experiences’. A mind map can help you do so—by becoming a Venn diagram.
You could ask your students to provide one or more examples for both circles, and then have them search for logical relationships between these examples.
Research suggests that 20% of teachers who teach with LessonUp use a mind map at the beginning of each lesson to activate prior knowledge. Our wealth of interactive features play a crucial role in enabling teachers to gather extensive assessment data on student progress.
