Bone Diggers: Mind Maps

By practicing, talking and writing about a topic, this is the only way our brain can make permanent connections about the information we are trying to learn as studies have shown such as the retrieval practice study, that those students in the retrieval practice group overall scored higher over

This relates to how Professor Dewey says it is easy to feel like you are understanding with your study resources close to you. Flashcards are fairly effective for me. The repetition makes ideas stick. I usually color code them to so I have something tangible to associate with them as well. My study habits are not absolutely terrible but they could definitely use some work.

3. To help improve in class I concentrate more on taking notes of everything. I think taking notes helps me to understand and learn things quicker. Not only that, but it also helps me improve my grasping power and help sharpen my memory as well. Less use of a cellphone, not eating while learning, etc., helps me too.

I am using the mind mapping strategy because I like images and the mind mapping helps to organize and condense information in the form of a picture. I have found that mind mapping is very practical when the information are well organized and in chronological order. For our reading, information are given chronologically so they suit to mind mapping strategy. Also, with this note taking format “little thinking is needed, relationships can easily be seen and it is easy to edit my notes by adding marks, and color coding (“ Note Taking Systems”)

My second study skill is note taking. Note taking is a practice of recording information captured from another source. By taking notes, the writer records the essence of the information, freeing their mind from having to recall everything. Note taking is a form of

During a lecture I often times will catch myself doodling on my paper when I should be taking notes. I often will remember the “real” things that happen. VARK helps recognize what will help different people with their different learning styles. VARK offers the SWOT – Study without tears as an example. They suggest converting your “notes” into a learnable package by reducing them. VARK suggests that your lecture notes maybe poor because the topics were

Successful students take notes that are understandable and organized, and review them often.Why put something into your notes you don't understand? Ask the questions now that are necessary to make your notes meaningful at some later time. A short review of your notes while the material is still fresh on your mind helps your learn more. The more you learn then, the less you'll have to learn later and the less time it will take because you won't have to include some deciphering time, also. The whole purpose of taking notes is to use them, and use them often. The more you use them, the more they improve.

The skill of mind mapping allows students to informally collate ideas and thoughts on a visual level. A crucial point of this ‘brainstorming’ that helps develop further meaning is that of networking. Linking ideas creates further understanding between topics. This adds exponential depth to writing as it demonstrates not only a basic understanding of singular concepts or ideas, but the links between others. In this case we really do have infinite possibilities as there are new emerging topics to relate to constantly. Therefore it represents a higher level of intellect as it shows students can take various perspectives and see the bigger picture, eventually forming a more well-rounded, multi-layered opinion with the knowledge to back it up.

Mind Mapping is a thinking tool that can be used to reflect how the mind works. You start with a central idea and expand out from that, it is best to use curved lines as opposed to straight lines as they are free flowing like nature that is curved and without straight lines.

During his free school period, he attended the resources room where he received special workshop on mind processing exercises to enhance ability to absorb academic work

My teacher suggested that I write a summary of what we were learning in class each day, without looking at my notes. I would then bring the summary to him to see if I knew everything I needed to for that topic. Many of my breaks from class passed on the couch in his office, going over summaries and talking about what was missing. These visits started to become one of my favorite parts of my day. I loved talking about the course material and that my summaries started to have less missing. I started to worry less about getting a prefect grade and more about learning the information for the

I thought my memory was terrible. Every set of directions, math formula, phone number, or historical name, I floundered my way through. Knowing that, if you told me I could memorize the bones of the upper extremity in a week I wouldn’t believe you, but now that I’ve done it, I know I can do it.

That may seem a bit oxymoronic, but without doodling my brain goes off on its own tangents. Doodling sort of anchors me to pen, paper, and the lecture. I also enjoy and benefit from taking part in class discussions and speaking in front of the class. I find that when I speak in front of the class, or ask questions, I retain that information better. There are times in class where I can fall behind, or get a bit confused, and at this time I refer to the book to help get me back on course with the rest of the class. Assignments can also get me a bit confused. I try to review assignments beforehand, to have questions prepared. Then again in class I review the assignments, take notes on them, and ask questions. Though it is early in the semester these techniques have proven effective for me in College Success.

The strengths of creating a mind map is that they can be used for lectures; note-making from books; essay plans etc and for less structured tasks. It is also easy to add ideas later, at any time and it helps you to focus on the links and relationships between ideas so you don 't just have disconnected facts.

Commonly, mind mapping can be used in a variety of ways such as note taking, problem solving and brainstorming. This artifact can impact on my learning positively as it can enhance my understanding better. With mind mapping I would be able to organize my time effectively which can keep me ahead of my studies.