Amal Al-Sibai
Saudi Gazette
Doing homework, writing an essay, studying for a test, and remembering facts for a history quiz can sometimes be hard and really boring.
Most kids would rather watch TV, play computer games, read a story, or talk to their friends on the phone than do their school work.
Tony Buzan, a writer and educator, was just like you. He hated doing homework and studying until he invented a tool that could make studying not only easier, but fun too!
The studying tool is called mind maps. Drawing a mind map is an easy way to help you remember information, study, and revise, and it takes much less time than your old way of studying.
Instead of summarizing your lesson and writing it down or reading the pages of your text book over and over again, you should draw a mind map. It is a good way to help you take notes, and to come up with new ideas for an essay or project.
You will save time, be more organized, and get better grades. Look at the paragraph which explains photosynthesis; then look at the mind map for photosynthesis. Which is more enjoyable to read? Which one will help you remember some of the difficult words? Which will take less time to study?
Making mind maps is easy and it takes only 5 steps.
1. Use a blank sheet of paper without lines, and different colored pens. Place your paper sideways.
2. Draw a picture in the middle of the page which is the main topic of the chapter that you are studying, or the main topic of the essay that you have to write. Your brain remembers colorful pictures better than it remembers written words.
3. Draw some thick, curved lines coming away from the picture in the middle of the page. Each line should be in a different color and there is a line for each idea or sub-title for the main topic. These lines are like the thicker and bigger branches on a tree or they can be imagined as the arms of an octopus. Using colors and coloring in the pictures make them stand out and grabs your attention.
4. Write down the name of each idea that is coming out of the main topic. The words of the idea should either be underlined or placed in a box. Use creative shapes for the boxes; such as heart shaped, tear-drop, bubbles, or just a regular rectangular box. These are the key words to remember. You can also draw a little picture with each line that is coming out of the main idea, like in the example of the mind map for the vertebrates. With each different branch of the vertebrates, there is the key word and picture: amphibians, reptiles, fish, birds, and mammals.
5. From each branch or idea, you then draw more, thinner lines which spread out like the smaller branches of a tree. These lines help to explain in more detail and to show similarities and differences between each idea and the important characteristics that you need to know.
You can keep on adding smaller and smaller branches until you have made sure that you included everything on that lesson, but in an easy, colorful, and attractive way.
If you are studying for a history test, you can fill out the dates on each line that represents a certain important event, or the name of the person you have to remember.
Mind maps can be used to help you study for almost any subject.
Definition of photosynthesis:
Photosynthesis is the process that plants use to take the energy from sunlight and use it to convert carbon dioxide and water into food.Plants breathe in carbon dioxide and they breathe out oxygen. Plants capture sunlight using a compound called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is green, which is why so many plants appear green.
