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MEMORY MIND MAPS Ian Cooper email: matlabvisulaphysics@gmail.com PHYSICS IS FUN,
EXCITING, SIMPLE
School,
studying, learning, remembering, understanding, homework, examinations and
years of it. It is always occupying your live. So, wouldn’t it be great
to find a way to make studying easier and more enjoyable with better marks,
and spending less time at it !!! LESS TIME STUDYING AND BETTER MARKS !!! Too good to be true? No, too good and too true
!!! The
above is taken from the book, Lana
Israel’s Brain Power for Kids: How to become an instant genius. written by a 13 year old girl living in Miami, Florida. The brain is the most powerful and
amazing of all computers, but it does not come with an instruction manual.
Recently researchers have discovered some very interesting facts about the
workings of our brain. The brain is divided into two parts
which are connected by a complicated series of nerves called the corpus
callosum.
The
two sides are known as the left and right hemispheres or left brain and right brain.
The left brain basically controls the more academic activities, whereas, the
right brain is for the more artistic activities.
What does the brain have to do
with how we learn? What does how we learn have to do
with the brain? The
way our brain works plays an important part in how we learn. In our
schooling, most of the time you are taught to learn linearly, in a linear
style or line-like fashion, Books are written linearly, your notes and
summaries are most likely composed in a linear fashion, one word after the
other.
The
problem is that currently we use linear methods of learning but the brain
does not work linearly, but in a series of links and connections. We are
currently learning
how to lean in a way that does
not suit and satisfy our brain. Also, linear styles of learning only use the
left side of the brain. But,
there is a way to learn more effectively using both sides of the brain and in
a series of links and connections. I called it Memory Mind Mapping (MMM) (like concept maps or mindmaps). A
MMM is a map that your mind can use to collect, store and retrieve information. MMM are mental maps, actually set up
the way our brain is set up. So, by learning how to make and read them will
lead to amazing paths and unlimited brain power. Exercise: Give yourself three minutes to
write an article on cricket (or your favourite activity). Now, give yourself
another three minutes to construct a MMM of your favourite activity without
any padding words using key words, links, pictures and colour. It is most important that you do this exercise. You will soon discover
that you can convey an enormous amount of information in three minutes with
your MMM, but not much information in the linear form of word after word in
your traditional written article.
Advantages of Memory
Mind Maps ·
The
main ideas are focused and emphasised. ·
It
is set up the way the brain is set up. ·
It
works in a series of connections. ·
Uses
the process of both the left and right sides of the brain (linear methods
only use the left side). ·
Structure
makes recall or remembering easier. ·
Use
only key words, images and connections (grouping) so recall is stronger and
time is not wasted (linear sentence methods waste ~90% of your time writing
and re-reading non-key words). ·
Does
not restrict your thinking like linear methods which are structured in a way
that restricts the brain from expanding. ·
Makes
it easier to see how ideas are related. ·
Quick
and easy to read over. ·
Additions
can be made easily. You MMM should evolve as you gain a better understanding,
items can be deleted, added or re-arranged. ·
Enables
ideas to flow. ·
Ideas
can be easily connected. ·
Like
a map, much information can be captured on one page. For example, with a good
MMM >10 pages from a physics textbook can reduced to a single page. ·
In
making your MMM, you have to make decisions and process information. When you
make linear summaries, very little decision making or processing of
information is done. ·
Optimises
your brain’s potential. How to make your Memory Mind
Maps A Memory Mind Map should fill one A4 page I
will provide you with some of my MMM, but making them yourself is much
better. Below is an example of a MMM on mechanics. It contains information
that would found in several sections of a physics
textbook.
·
Clearly show that main concept. ·
Identify key words and connections or
groupings ·
NO
padding words (and, the, … ), NO sentences. ·
Include
symbols, equations, units ·
Use
graphs to interpret mathematical relationships. ·
Use
pictures instead of words to convey the meaning of concepts. ·
Use
colour to emphasis major points. Colour can assist recall and help in the
processing of information. ·
Use
pictures to process information and to make it easier to recall information. ·
The
MMM are very different from the traditional concept map with just key words
linked together. ·
MMM
should continue to evolve as you add, delete and edit them. How to use your Memory Mind
Maps Your
own MMM maps are better than the ones I provide since, you need to make the
decisions of what goes on the single page and how it will be organised. You
do more processing of the information which stimulates both sides of the
brain and improves your brain power. It
may take a lot of time and effort to produce your initial MMMs,
but once completed they are a valuable asset. You need to review your MMM
often and always use them when studying and doing questions and problems. For
example, you are given the problem Calculate the height
of a cliff, if a ball dropped from rest takes 10 s to reach the ground
below. Find
you MMM on uniform accelerated motion and use it to help you find the answer
to the problem. Remember the answer is not important, what is important is
your knowledge and understanding. This is enhanced by using your MMM. Memory
is a very important part of the learning and understanding process. You should review your MMM for short
periods, even a few seconds when watching TV, sitting on the toilet, just
before you go to bed, just after you get up, when you are on the bus. With a
MMM you don’t have to read it. The information on the MMM goes into
your short term memory and by repeated review, the information will be
transferred to your long term memory. In an exam, you will be able to
visualise your MMMs and be in a much better
situation to successfully answer the questions.
Memory How
true is the statement:
“How
little I remember of the things I am learning in school” Memory
is the basis of all knowledge. We only know what we remember (and sometimes
we don’t remember much).
Some
people have amazing memories. But are they smarter
than us? Not necessarily. They often have developed a process (or scheme) for
not forgetting information. To improve your memory, knowledge and
understanding, you need to exercise your brain. We
humans have two attributes which are the most important aids in the process
of improving your memory. These are the ability to form mental pictures, and the
ability to associate
(link) pictures with each other.
For
example, you here a funny story. Creating a set mental
images will help you remember the story. The best images are those
that distort the experience or are highly illogical. Even the mere act of
thinking about the images has a practical and positive effect on the brain.
Linking images together and forming associations in very important in the
memory process.
You
form a set of mental
hooks to store and retrieve
information by making association between the hooks.
Note for
teachers The days of a teacher writing on a blackboard and students
copying what you have written should be a thing of the past. There are much
better approaches. I once had a class of nearly 100 students doing a physics
course in an Agricultural Science degree. Physics for them was not going to
be a good experience for them?. The tradiational format was three, one-hour
lectures per week. I replaced one class per week with a mindmap session.
Students were placed in groups of three (working in groups of 3 has been
shown to be more effective than pairs). They were given an article (some
article had lots of “heavy” material in them). The group togther
using an A3 sheet of paper constructed a mindmap of the information in the
article. These students made good use of colour and drawings. By the end of
the course they were better at producing mindmaps them myself. Also, for
assessment taks rather than complete standard physics problems, they
completed individual mindmaps on an A4 page. I have no scientifc evidence to
support my following claims; ·
Students performed better on answering question that
related to mindmap sessions compared with the traditional teacher centred
lecture. ·
The quality of their answers on avergae were better than
the average repsonse for students doing the Physics 1 course. Another example: I taught a class for science teachers
doing their Dip.Ed.. They had three minutes to construct a mindmap on
electricity. Within three minutes I new their background very well. Some
concentrated on washing machines, stoves, hair dryers, others, mentioned
inductors, capacitors , LC circuits, magneitc field, … . Students can learn a lot through assessment exercises (not formal
ones). You can implement regular testing of topics in class. For example,
students can construct a mindmap on Newton’s 3rd Law within
five minutes. Since you as teacher, don’t have to read much, almost at
a glance, you can award a mark for each student ( I managed to mark many Ag
science students mindmaps very quicky). Also, the class can review, discuss
and reflect upon the many mindmaps constructed by the whole class.
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