Taken from this source, all rights respectfully acknowledged.
People trained in public education may be unaware of what it is to make a mind map, this is undoubtedly true because teachers are not normally trained in the used of a Mind Map. As a former teacher and senior educator I find this shocking as it is such a useful and effective way of learning, improving recall, planning and researching. We don’t expect people to run on one leg but we train people to teach using only the left half of their brain! and not realize how useful it can be. This sort of thinking is associated with the right side of people’s brains rather than the left. With left-brain thinking, thought processes are more logical and linear. You do what the Red Queen advised Alice in the Wonderland books: “Begin at the beginning. Then proceed until you come to the end. Then stop.” But right-brain thought doesn’t travel in straight lines. It works more on the basis of a picture, a sort of visual map of associated ideas. And in COLOUR.
The use of such mind tools isn’t intended to be exclusionary and shut left-brain thinking right out. Rather, people who talk about these tools hope that the world can learn to add right-brain thinking as a method that works in partnership with the centuries old, tried-and-true methods employed by the left brain. The goal is to discover relationships and possibilities that might never have been recognized in the left-brain way of approaching knowledge. Learning to make a mind map may be a way of expanding that knowledge beyond its previous boundaries. Try a simple experiment: close you eyes and have some say the name of an object to you (eg CAT) what happens in your head? You get an image of a cat not the word printed out, you might get the smell or taste or sensation of a cat but certainly not the word. We recall in images yet we are expected to learn in text. the two go together, thats how we learn to read: Image and Association.
So how does one begin making a mind map? One starts with a central concept or idea, written on a piece of paper, a white or blackboard, or perhaps on a computer screen. Then the brainstorming begins brainstorming is not the same as Mind Mapping and shoud not be confused with it, however it is a very common misconception. One can do this alone, but it’s even more effective with several people. Everyone tosses out any idea they think of that relates to that central concept, and all ideas are written down. Once everyone is done, all the concepts are analyzed and gathered into broad themes that suggest themselves, essentially doing visual mapping to link common ideas together.
By brainstorming like this and using mind mapping techniques, sometimes new connections are discovered that weren’t noticed before. Things might be seen to affect the central issue that no one previously realized had anything to do with it. Left-brain linear thinking concentrates more on the fine details of an issue, while as one works to make a mind map, it becomes a means of seeing the bigger picture, or discovering the constellation of ideas forming the wider environment of the issue. These two ways of approaching a problem don’t need to be in competition, but can work together to form a more comprehensive whole.
This is a good article but it misses huge uses of Mind Mapping: LEARNING, RECALL, RECORDING, PLANNING and MEMORY. Mind Mapping is certainly not brainstorming. It has many other more powerful functions. In education which is where the article started so well MM should be taught so that everyone can use more of their potential. This article also confuses the concept of brain storming which is usually a group creativity/ideas generating exercise with the process of Mind Mapping which is a tool which can be used for LEARNING, RECALL, RECORDING, PLANNING and MEMORY as well as creativity exercises.
Beth Kaminski is the co-author of Curing Your Anxiety And Panic Attacks which detailed cure panic attack cures as well as tips on the various anxiety attack medications available at anxietydisordercure.com.
