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Idea MapsWhether students are searching for ideas
for writing assignments, projects or presentations, often they need a spark
to make ideas begin to flow. That's where idea maps come in. This visual
learning technique stimulates students to generate ideas, follow them
through and develop their thoughts visually.
Idea maps help students brainstorm, solve problems and plan their work.
Using fast, five-minute exercises in word and idea association, idea maps
connect keywords, symbols, colours and graphics to form nonlinear networks
of potential ideas and thoughts.
Educators tell us they use idea maps in all kinds of
applications. Prior to field trips, idea maps help students think about what
they might see and learn. After the field trip, students use idea maps to
record their observations. And idea maps give emerging or struggling writers
a boost as they learn to generate ideas and gather and organise their
thoughts.
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Brainstorming & Idea
Mapping with Inspiration® |
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Using Idea Maps
for:
Brainstorming,
Pre-Writing, Planning & Problem-Solving
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Idea maps help students generate ideas and develop thoughts visually.
They are used for brainstorming and prewriting exercises, and producing
plans and solving problems. Idea maps clarify thinking by helping students
to see connections between ideas.
Using fast, five-minute exercises in word and idea association, idea
maps utilize keywords, symbols, colors and graphics to form nonlinear
networks of potential ideas and observations.
Here's how it works with
Inspiration®.
First, type your topic in the Main Idea symbol. Click the RapidFireTM
button. Then start typing, writing your ideas as fast as they come.
Press Enter (Return) after each idea, and Inspiration® will break them
out into separate symbols. Don't stop to decide whether these are good
ideas -- just keep typing.
When you've exhausted your ideas, begin sorting them into categories.
Use symbols and colors to emphasize different concepts. This stage may
help you generate even more ideas. Don't interrupt them. Just type them in
and begin rearranging again.
Finally, step back and look at main themes, patterns or possible
solutions.
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Brainstorming & Prewriting
with Inspiration®
Brainstorming is one of the easiest ways to motivate students to
think. It helps students think of good topics, and helps them elaborate
upon those topics. Brainstorms also show students how much they know about
a topic and can give them direction for future research. Brainstorming can
be done individually, in pairs or in small groups. Teacher-directed
brainstorms are also extremely effective. To brainstorm, students start
with a main idea or problem. Related ideas, represented by symbols that
radiate outward, are added instantly as new thoughts flow.
Some topics for brainstorming might include:
Ideas for stories, essays, multimedia or other projects
Members of my family
Animals you can find in a house
Themes of “MacBeth”
Reasons to go to college
Social groups in our city
Features of glaciers
Prewriting Web
Prewriting describes the “brainstorming” that a student does
before writing a story. It helps the student focus on the topic at hand
and slowly build enough information to write a complete story.
You choose the general topic, then the student lists ideas for a story
under that topic. The student can use Notes text to elaborate on an idea.
After writing as much as possible in the Diagram view, the student then
switches to the Outline view to prepare a detailed outline that can become
a story.
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