Benefits of Mind Maps for Students

Mind mapping is now gaining prevalence in academic institutions, corporate houses and government departments. As the name suggests, this process maps the direction through which our brain perceives things. If mastered the art, it helps in the decision-making process. The brainchild of Tony Buzan, an international speaker and renowned author, this process helps in boosting our productivity, creativity and memory power. Further, this groundbreaking technique assists in performing various tasks, such as exploring new opportunities, studying, brainstorming, managing projects, just to name a few.

A mind map is the outcome of the mind-mapping process.This visual thinking tool helps in learning, analyzing and performing other cognitive functions. These days, the use of these maps is quite rampant in schools and other academic institutions. Students can derive much benefits from this tool. Some of these benefits are as follows:

• Facilitating the learning process, mind maps help students gain confidence in their learning abilities and put an end to study-related stress and anxiety.
• As a potent concentration-building tool, mind maps enable students to focus on their study. It ultimately yields better results.
• Mind maps are also helpful in memorizing, as students perceive information in their minds’ eyes.

How to create a mind map

If you are planning to create a mind map, try the following steps:

• Come up with a fundamental idea: While creating a mind map, your first step is to come up with the fundamental idea. The fundamental idea refers to the topic/subject that you are going to study. You must put the fundamental idea at the middle of your mind map. No matter whether you are creating a paper-based or a web-based mind map, your fundamental idea will provide a clear picture of the content of the mind map you are creating.
• Create branches: In the next step, create main branches centered around the fundamental idea, which will be the key theme. For example, if your fundamental idea is ‘Literature,’ your branches can be like ‘Poetry,’ ‘Fiction,’ and so on. For a detailed study, you can create sub branches. Do not forget to label your branches.
• Add color and images: Last but not the least, color the branches and add images to your mind map, as it is said that images are more effective in conveying information than words. Therefore, human brains can process colorful and image-studded mind maps more effectively than sombre texts. And it also helps in recalling information.