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How to teach mind mapping and how to make a mind map | inspiration.com

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Learn how to mind map and how mind mapping helps students comprehend, create new ideas, and build connections

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Free Mind Map Maker - Online Mind Mapping Examples | Canva

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Build and organize brilliant ideas with online mind mapping examples and tools from Canva’s free mind map maker.

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Benefits of Bubbl.us mind maps over text:

Superior clarity of structured information

Whether it's a family tree, a decision flow map, or an algorithm, mind maps have a huge advantage in presenting complexity clearly and concisely.

Better retention of complex ideas.

Visualizing complex ideas in shapes, lines, and pictures leads to much better recollection later than simple text.

Creative collaboration with others.

Visual brainstorming with a team can dramatically improve the quality of the final product because of diversity of perspectives and experiences.

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Bubbl.us - Create Mind Maps | Collaborate and Present Ideas

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Mind map and brainstorm online with Bubbl.us! Create colorful mind maps to print or share with others. Millions of people are using Bubbl.us worldwide to generate ideas, map out processes and create presentations.

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Ideas matter. When the term "mind mapping" was coined by Tony Buzan on the BBC's Use Your Head in 1974, the ways in which we take notes, brainstorm and study changed forever. We look at what makes this technique so special, which mind mapping technique you should choose, and what the benefits of mind mapping are.

Whether you're mapping on paper, on a whiteboard or with an online mapping tool like MindMeister , you're one of millions of professionals and students worldwide who benefit from this extraordinary technique. In this article, we've put together a short guide to the types of mind maps you can benefit from, alongside the main reasons why mind mapping is increasingly replacing other note taking formats in business and educational contexts.

In This Article:

Which mind map?

Why should I mind map?

To structure information effectively

To improve reading comprehension

To boost productivity

To inspire creativity

To improve memory and recall

Which Mind Map?

Mind maps are graphical representations of information. In contrast to the traditional, linear notes you might make in a text document or even on paper, mind maps let you capture thoughts, ideas and keywords on a blank canvas. These ideas are organized in a two-dimensional structure, with the title/main idea always located in the center of the map for visibility. Related ideas branch off from the center in all directions, creating a radiant structure.

Despite these key principles, the fact that mind mapping has existed for almost half a century makes it inevitable that some divergence will exist when it comes to defining what a mind map actually is. Let's look at the two key schools of thought.

The Buzan Method

In its purest form, and as described in from the late Tony Buzan himself, mind mapping is a particular technique that requires the following key elements to be effective:

A central image, to stimulate memory, associations and thought processes

Curvilinear branches, emanating from the central image, to depict the basic ordering ideas ( BOIs

A (theoretically infinite) network of smaller branches to depict ideas stemming from the BOIs at different levels of detail

Conscious use of color to separate ideas by topic

A single keyword for each branch

As Buzan explains in the video, the rules behind his mind mapping technique were developed following extensive studies in the fields of neuroscience and psychology. Many purists argue to this day that his method remains the one true technique: a map without the elements above cannot be considered a "true" mind map.

Importantly, however, Buzan mentions that he uses his own learning experiences to ultimately gauge what is effective and what is not, which is why his method has been subtly adapted over time by like-minded enthusiasts.

Spider and Bubble Maps

Although the term is inextricably linked to Buzan, the modern definition of mind mapping is slightly broader and generally encompasses spider maps and bubble maps as well. These similar concepts are less-rigidly defined variations of the Buzan method above, differing in several key aspects .

Both spider/bubble maps and "Buzan" mind maps start from a single central topic, or two topics in "double bubble" maps. However, how the surrounding topics are presented is the crucial point of difference.

Rather than labeling the branches, spider/bubble diagrams use lines to connect ideas, displayed as "bubbles" around the central theme. These topics may also be further dissected into subtopics to provide detail and depth.

A key advantage of spider/bubble maps is that they provide mappers with the opportunity to link themes "cross-topic" rather than solely from the preceding branch. This fosters an overarching structure within the map and can show links between related subjects.

The Best Mind Map for You

When it comes to creating your mind map, the most important things to co nsider are what you need and how you learn best. Sometimes, you may not even need a mind map at all. While almost all mapping techniques were developed as an alternative to long-form text and linear notes, there are plenty of situations where linear note-taking is a perfectly suitable method.

Your needs and goals should also be considered when you decide how to create the mind map itself. While traditional paper mind maps are great for developing ideas by yourself, the development of online mind mapping tools has enabled millions of people to brainstorm and plan together in real time. It's for this reason that MindMeister , our very own online mind mapping tool, features such an intense focus on collaboration and group work.

In terms of the "Buzan" map vs. spider map divide, MindMeister allows users to choose the structure that suits them best: taking the best aspects of both techniques to create a flexible tool that is perfectly suited for online collaboration. It also provides support for other diagram types, including org charts and project plans. You can read all about how to create attractive, intuitive maps in this excellent post.

Why Should I Mind Map?

The soul never thinks without a mental image.

Aristotle

There are many reasons why mind mapping is used by millions of professionals, creatives and students all over the world. Here are the top 4:

Mind maps structure information.

Mind maps can store and structure vast amounts of information. They display hierarchy, show relationships between individual ideas and enable you to see the " big picture" at a glance. These features also make mind maps an ideal tool to present information to others , create knowledge pools and solve complex problems .

Mind maps improve comprehension.

In both school and university education , mind maps have proved to be popular and effective learning aids. By structuring information in a way that is more compatible with visual learning styles, and by filtering long texts into shorter mind map topics, learners can absorb large amounts of information faster.

A 2013 study¹ published in the Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM) examined how students in Iran reacted to mind mapping as a tool for learning English as a foreign language. From the sample group, 83.4 percent of students had a positive view of mind mapping in reading comprehension, while only 16.7 percent responded negatively. Tellingly, in a questionnaire issued after the study, the statement " When I use mind maps for a reading passage, I'm more able to solve post-reading activities " scored most highly.

Mind maps enhance productivity.

The benefits of mind mapping are not limited to education; they can be useful in a commercial sphere as well . Mind mapping enables you to learn faster, communicate more efficiently and brainstorm more effectively, which is why ever more businesses are using tools like MindMeister to get the most out of their teams.

Whether you're planning a project at work or writing a scientific paper - mind mapping will help you save tremendous amounts of time. According to a survey by the Mind Mapping Software Blog , mind mapping software can increase productivity by an average of 23 percent.

Mind maps foster creativity.

Two things make mind maps the best brainstorming tool out there. One: The act of developing a mind map stimulates our brain like no other technique and fosters a creative flow of ideas. Two: Mind maps allow you to transcribe those ideas with incredible speed, making for a virtually frictionless thought organization.

During a 2004 study ² into the effectiveness of mind mapping for students' writing assignments, 10 out of 12 people found that mind mapping improved their writing. Not only is it an excellent technique for students to prepare their essays and papers , it's also a fantastic method for bloggers to outline articles and for authors to overcome writer's block .
See also: 6 Tips to Improve Your Creativity
Mind maps improve memory and recall.

Mind maps present information visually. They feature several powerful mental triggers such as images, colors, shapes and connections, which help our brain process and memorize large amounts of information. Studies have found that mind maps can improve memory by 10-15 percent, others go even higher and estimate improvements of up to 32 percent³ . Interestingly, students with learning difficulties such as or high-functioning autism have reported that they find mind maps to be invaluable study aids.
Still not convinced? Maybe you're right to be cautious. Check out the Top 7 Reasons NOT to Mind Map
1 Hariri, M. and Tahriri, A. (2014) "EFL Learners' Attitudes Towards Using Mind Mapping Technique In Their Reading Comprehension". University of Guilan, Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods.2 Wai Ling, C. (2004), 'The Effectiveness of Using Mind Mapping Skills in Enhancing Secondary One and Secondary Four Students' Writing in a CMI School'. University of Hong Kong, Masters dissertation.

3 Toi, H (2009), 'Research on how Mind Map improves Memory'. Paper presented at the International Conference on Thinking, Kuala Lumpur, 22nd to 26th June 2009.

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Why Mind Mapping Is So Powerful and How It Works | FOCUS

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Ideas matter. When the term "mind mapping" was coined by Tony Buzan on the BBC's Use Your Head in 1974, the ways in which we take notes, brainstorm and study changed forever. We look at what makes this technique so special, which mind mapping technique you should choose, and what the benefits of mind mapping are.

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PINGDOM_CANARY_STRING

See why millions of users across the globe choose Lucidchart.

Mind mapping made easy

Organize your ideas with our mind map creator and then share them with others.

Master the basics of Lucidchart in 3 minutes

Create your first mind map from a template or blank canvas.

Add shapes, lines, and content to customize your diagram.

Style and format your diagram to fit your use case.

Use Feature Find within Lucidchart to locate additional shapes and features.

Share your diagram with your team to get feedback and continue iterating.

Mind map templates

Make your own mind map by starting with one of our templates.

Lucidchart integrations

Connect Lucidchart to your favorite industry-leading apps.

See why teams use Lucidchart as their mind map maker

Diagram, visualize data, and collaborate all in one platform.

What is a mind map?

A mind map is a way to capture your thoughts. Start with a central idea, and then create branches from it to related concepts. From there, you can add and connect ideas freely. Mind maps work well for visual thinkers, and the flexible structure enables out-of-the-box brainstorming.

How to make a mind map in Lucidchart

1. Create your core idea

The core idea represents what you want to brainstorm about, like a problem you're trying to solve or the goal of a project that you're planning. Drag a shape from the mind map shape library to your board and add the core idea to it. That shape will remain central as your map grows.

2. Add parent branches

Make branches that outline your basic subtopics. Drag a line from your central idea, then choose a shape from the auto-prompt and fill in your subtopic. You can also use the hotkey "Tab" to create and connect your parent branch.

3. Add child branches and key words

Create more branches from the subtopics you've added. To add more detailed information, use the hotkey "Enter." Use the hotkey "Z" to collapse and expand the child branches so your mind map stays easy to scan.

4. Add colors and images

While not strictly necessary, colors and images help you visually sort and understand your ideas. Using them can make your mind map richer and more helpful to you.

5. Share your mind map

Share your mind map online, even with people who don't use Lucidchart. Generate a URL to share the diagram in an app integrated with Lucidchart, embed your diagram in a wiki, or export your diagram and outlines to different file types.

Frequently asked questions about mind maps

Yes, you can download our app on your mobile device to mind map from anywhere. Our app is available for iOS and Android.

Use mind mapping to generate, organize, or visualize ideas. You can take notes, solve problems, make decisions, and better understand large ideas or concepts. A mind map is the perfect diagram for brainstorming a subject or issue.

Use Tab to create child ideas, Enter to create sibling ideas, Z to collapse or expand children ideas, and arrow keys to navigate through your map.

© 2023 Lucid Software Inc.

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Mind Map Maker | Mind Mapping Software for Collaboration | Lucidchart

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Brainstorm ideas and collaborate with anyone using our mind map maker. Easily create a mind map using our customizable mind mapping templates. Sign up for free!

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Take your first steps to with our Mind Mapping software and create a Mind Map with handy tips, tricks and techniques. Enhance your core skills by learning how capture information and ideas, helping you to improve your brainstorming sessions and become more organised, productive and creative.

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Structure writing

Use notes and attachments to quickly create a structure for an article or a writing assignment, then create a document outline and continue editing in your favourite writing tool

Create storyboards

Use a frictionless planning canvas to capture and organise your thoughts, and then put them into a powerful storyboard to turn a hierarchy of ideas into a sequence of slides.

Post to social media

MindMup Atlas automatically adds images and contextual information to ensure that your maps show up nicely on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

Plan and manage projects

Add measurements to map nodes to automatically calculate cost, completion and other important factors. Manage project progress easily with icons and priorities.

Collaborate easily

Maps saved to MindMup Cloud support concurrent editing for teams and classrooms, enabling you to instantly see updates made to your map by other users.

Attach documents

Add longer text, videos and spreadsheets to your maps. MindMup for Google Drive also allows you to link to other project documents on Google Drive easily.

Add images

Quickly add images and icons to your maps to provide context and illustrations.

Administer easily

Administrators can easily control sharing settings for the entire organisation. MindMup also integrates with Office365 and Google authentication for easy account management.

MindMup Cloud

Free users can create public maps up to 100 KB and save them up to six months. No account or registration needed.

Gold users can create private maps, share and edit concurrently.
Create a new map Open an existing map

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Free online mind mapping. The most productive online mind map canvas on the Web. Supports Freemind mindmap import/export. Easy mindmapping software.

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(Also known as Mind Mapping, Concept Mapping, Spray Diagrams, and Spider Diagrams)

Have you ever studied a subject or brainstormed an idea, only to find yourself with pages of information, but no clear view of how it fits together?

This is where Mind Mapping can help.

Mind Mapping is a useful technique that supports learning, improves information recording, shows how different facts and ideas are related, and enhances creative problem solving. Read on to find out more.

Click here to view a transcript of this video.

About Mind Maps

Mind Maps were popularized by author and consultant, Tony Buzan. They use a two-dimensional structure, instead of the list format conventionally used to take notes. This makes information easier to remember, as it's held in a format that our minds find easy to recall and quick to review.

A good Mind Map shows the "shape" of the subject, the relative importance of individual points, and the ways in which facts relate to one another. Research shows that this is of particular benefit when dealing with complex information, such as during business planning and strategy development.

Mind Maps are more compact than conventional notes, and often take up just one side of paper. This helps you to make associations and to generate new ideas. You can also add new information easily, even to a Mind Map that you've already drawn.

Mind Mapping can also help you to break down large projects or topics into manageable chunks, so that you can plan effectively without getting overwhelmed and without forgetting something important.

What Can I Use Mind Maps For?

Mind Maps are useful for:

Brainstorming - individually, and as a group.

Summarizing information.

Taking notes.

Consolidating information from different sources.

Thinking through complex problems.

Presenting information clearly.

Studying and memorizing information.

Mind Maps are also good for refreshing information in your mind. When you commit the shape and structure of a Mind Map to memory, you can often get the cues you need to remember the information it contains just by glancing quickly at the Map. Studies have shown that this makes them highly valuable when you're learning a language, for example.

You can really get inventive with Mind Maps, so they are great for boosting creativity, too. When you include colors, images or drawings, they can even resemble a work of art!

How to Draw a Basic Mind Map

To draw a Mind Map, follow these five steps:

Step 1. Write the title of the subject or project that you're exploring in the center of a page and draw a circle around it, as shown in figure 1, below.

(Our simple example shows a Mind Map of the actions needed to deliver a successful presentation.)

Figure 1.

Step 2. Draw lines out from this circle as you think of subheadings of the topic or important facts or tasks that relate to your subject. Label these lines with your subheadings. (See figure 2, below.)

Figure 2.

Step 3. Dive deeper into the subject to uncover the next level of information (related sub-topics, tasks or facts, for example). Then, link these to the relevant subheadings. (See figure 3, below.)

Figure 3.

Step 4. Repeat the process for the next level of facts, tasks and ideas. Draw lines out from the appropriate headings and label them, as shown in figure 4, below.

Figure 4.

Step 5. As you discover new information or think of additional tasks, add them to your Mind Map in the appropriate places.

A complete Mind Map may have main topic lines radiating in all directions from the center, with sub-topics forking off these like branches and twigs from the trunk of a tree. You don't need to worry about the structure you produce - this will evolve of its own accord.

Tip:

While drawing Mind Maps by hand is appropriate in many cases, software tools and apps like Coggle, Bubbl.us, Mindmeister, MindGenius, iMindMap, and Mindjet can improve the process by helping you to produce high-quality Mind Maps, which you can then easily edit or redraft.

Using Mind Maps Effectively

Once you understand how to take notes in the Mind Map format, you can develop your own conventions for taking them further. The following suggestions can help you to get the most from your Mind Maps:

Use Single Words or Uncomplicated Phrases - Keep things simple. In Mind Maps, single strong words and short, meaningful phrases can convey the same meaning more potently. Excess words just clutter a Mind Map.

Print Words - They will be easier to read than joined-up or indistinct writing.

Use Color to Separate Different Ideas - Color can help to show the organization of the subject. It can also make your Mind Map a more appealing document, and help you to visualize the different sections of your Mind Map for future recall.

Use Symbols and Images - Pictures can help you to remember information more effectively than words, so use symbols or pictures that mean something to you, use it. (You can use photo libraries like iStock to source images inexpensively.)

Using Cross-Linkages - Information in one part of a Mind Map may relate to another part, so draw lines to show these cross-linkages. This will help you to see how one part of the subject affects another.

Visual Example

Click on the thumbnail below for a great example of a Mind Map with high visual impact:

Key Points

Mind Mapping is a powerful note-taking method. Mind Maps not only highlight important facts, but also show the overall structure of a subject and the relative importance of individual parts of it.

They are great when you need to think creatively, and can help you to make new connections between ideas. This is useful when you have problems to solve.

To use Mind Maps effectively, it's best to print your words, to use different colors (to add visual impact), and to incorporate symbols and images to spur creative thinking.

If you do any form of research or note taking, try experimenting with Mind Maps. You'll love using them!

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Mind Maps®: - A Powerful Approach to Note-Taking

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Have you ever studied a subject or brainstormed an idea, only to find yourself with pages of information, but no clear view of how it fits together? This is where Mind Mapping can help. Mind Mapping is a useful technique that supports learning, improves information recording, shows how different facts and ideas are related, and enhances creative problem solving.

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Mind Map | Free online Mind Map software| GoConqr

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GoConqr’s free online Mind Map software lets you create beautiful visuals for your ideas. Perfect for students, teachers and professionals.

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This page is meant to inform you about Mind Mapping and provide ideas that can help you create and benefit from Mind Maps

What is Mind Mapping?

Mind mapping is a highly effective way of getting information in and out of your brain. Mind mapping is a creative and logical means of note-taking and note-making that literally "maps out" your ideas.

All Mind Maps have some things in common. They have a natural organizational structure that radiates from the center and use lines, symbols, words, color and images according to simple, brain-friendly concepts. Mind mapping converts a long list of monotonous information into a colorful, memorable and highly organized diagram that works in line with your brain's natural way of doing things.

One simple way to understand a Mind Map is by comparing it to a map of a city. The city center represents the main idea; the main roads leading from the center represent the key thoughts in your thinking process; the secondary roads or branches represent your secondary thoughts, and so on. Special images or shapes can represent landmarks of interest or particularly relevant ideas.

The great thing about mind mapping is that you can put your ideas down in any order, as soon as they pop into your head. You are not constrained by thinking in order. Simply, throw out any and all ideas, then worry about reorganizing them later.

There are many great mind mapping software programs out there to help you organize your thoughts and then automatically export them to an easy-to-read, ordered list.

While it is absolutely possible to mind map the old-fashioned way with a pen and paper, why not take advantage of the technology age and save yourself some much needed time?

The mind map is the external mirror of your own radiant or natural thinking facilitated by a powerful graphic process, which provides the universal key to unlock the dynamic potential of the brain.

The Five Essential Characteristics of Mind Mapping:

How to Make a Mind Map

Think of your general main theme and write that down in the center of the page. i.e. Food

Figure out sub-themes of your main concept and draw branches to them from the center, beginning to look like a spider web i.e. Meats, Dairy, Breads

Make sure to use very short phrases or even single words

Add images to invoke thought or get the message across better

Try to think of at least two main points for each sub-theme you created and create branches out to those

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This page is meant to inform you about Mind Mapping and provide ideas that can help you create and benefit from Mind Maps Mind mapping is a highly effective way of getting information in and out of your brain. Mind mapping is a creative and logical means of note-taking and note-making that literally "maps out" your ideas.

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Want to learn better? Start mind mapping | Hazel Wagner | TEDxNaperville

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How to draw to remember more | Graham Shaw | TEDxVienna

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How to Make The PERFECT Mind Map and STUDY EFFECTIVELY! | Eve