Mind Maps

Many of you at Bilkent are being asked by your teachers to create semantic maps as part of your vocabualry study. I would like to offer a new way to approach the semantic map which I think will make them much more effective. This new approach is to use the mind map technique which was invented by Tony Buzan, a well-reknowned education technologist. I have included some videos of this method. THey are quite short and explain this simple but revolutionary technique. The strength of this technique relies on the way we remember anything, through a process of imagination and association. Those words or ideas that we have adequate association with in our minds are those which we most readily recall. His big idea for learning and remembering new vocabulary is to draw a small multicolored picture which we personally associate with a word. Tese pictures become part of the map and allow us to connect that word to other concepts based on the way we organize the map. Similar to creating your own sentence with a word, the act of drawing a picture which explains the word to you will insure that you not only understand the meaning but can remember it when you need it for reading, listening, speaking or writing. I have posted two examples to the top of this writing which give you an idea of how you can make your own. I have used this technique in my own study of less common academic words and found it to be quite useful. Those of you who like to draw like me may even enjoy it. Give it a try and let me know what you think.