Do you know about mind-mapping? Well kids are learning it in school as a way to brainstorm and think more visually. A challenge with school is it’s highly auditory but humans think in highly visual ways. Even though we may be speaking to each other in words, our mind is instantly converting all those words into pictures so we can understand.
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 in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing. They’re an awesome way to take any concept and simplify it.
The first mind maps were drawn in the 3rd century by a philosopher as a way to understand the works for Aristotle. If you’re tried to read Aristotle, you know from where the saying, “a picture is worth a million words” came.
Now there’s an application you can download for PC & Mac for your own brainstorming. It’s a great way to break down your goals for 2010 into it’s component parts. It’s also a great way to visually communicate with your team. Visual is memorable!
Get it here: http://www.xmind.net/
Great tool to introduce your kids to. They can take any topic they want to learn better and make a map out if it. This is what our mind is trying to do anyway. And a hint, you’re just a big kid.
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