How to use mind maps to guide children to read deeply?

"Reading a lot and seeking to understand deeply" is the way of reading that I have always pursued. However, with the prevalence of "fast food culture" and the various apps on smartphones occupying people's time, how can people have the time to "seek to understand deeply"? (I am just complaining daily, please ignore it)

But reading should not just be a pastime, but also "Go deeper" - in-depth reading, deep understanding of the story and absorption of knowledge. Fortunately, the children still have some time, and I hope that adults can guide the children to "Go deeper". So, how to guide children to read deeply? How to strike a balance between reading quantity and depth? How to cultivate children's logical ability and critical thinking ability through reading?

Let's ask the mind map for help. Today, mind mapping has become a very mainstream visible thinking tool. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a must-have skill before graduating from primary school. Not only has it become popular in primary and secondary schools around the world, but the Singapore Ministry of Education has also listed it as a compulsory subject in primary schools, requiring children to be able to skillfully use different types of mind maps, either separately or in combination, in reading, writing, mathematics, logical thinking, behavioral habits, etc.

Eight types of mind maps

Among the eight types of mind maps, circle maps, bubble maps, and double bubble maps are more suitable for children over 5 years old.

Focus on the topic and sort out the clues

The bubble chart is one of the most basic mind maps. It has a central theme, and then uses line segments to radiate out many bubbles. Each line segment is a dimension, and each bubble is an idea, all of which are related to the central point. However, many people directly remove the bubbles to make it easier for them to write more words.

We can first do basic exercises with children, asking them to write the central word in the big circle in the middle of the bubble chart and the words describing the central word in the small circles around the central word. This can train children's ability to observe things from multiple angles.

If a child reads a story that he particularly likes, you can let him use a bubble chart to draw the plot and clues that he understands. The process of drawing is actually the process of him sorting out his own thoughts, so as to better understand the story itself and its meaning.

Children can also use this method to summarize their gains after reading a popular science book. The original interesting animal knowledge picture book "I Can Tell The Difference" series presents a mind map of two similar animals at the end of each book, so parents and children can summarize the knowledge learned from this book together.

I Can Tell The Differences Part 3: Green Peacock and Blue Peacock

Theme reading, cross-border thinking

When reading, most children are used to finishing the first book, then the second, and then the third... But British writer Maugham once shared a completely different reading habit: "For myself, I find it more reasonable to read 5 or 6 books at the same time." His reason sounds a bit willful at first, "because we can't maintain the same mood every day, and even within a day, we may not have the same enthusiasm for the same book." Although we don't necessarily have to cultivate this reading habit in our children, but after reading several books, making a cross-border comparison of books, or choosing a reading list around themes with similarities can often allow children to have more unique and comprehensive thinking.

The double bubble chart is like a combination of two bubble charts. Its beauty lies in comparing and analogizing the similarities and differences between two things. In reading training, you can use it to compare the characteristics of different characters and different environments in a book. Of course, you can also use the double bubble chart to compare the similarities and differences between two stories.

For example, when a child finishes reading each book of "I Can Tell the Difference", the book provides a mind map of the characteristics of each animal. Parents can increase the difficulty and let the child upgrade this mind map to a double-bubble mind map.

I Can Tell The Differences, Part 1: Sea Lions and Seals

Develop associations around the theme

The circle diagram is composed of a small circle and a large circle. The central word is written in the small circle, and the associations about the central word are written in the middle of the two circles. The keywords of the associations can be words or simple pictures. It is often used to define something or associations (brainstorming).

After reading a book, you can let your child develop full associations around the theme. You may be shocked by your child's ability to associate.

Among the eight types of mind maps, multiple flow charts and flow charts are more suitable for children in the third grade of primary school and above.

Unraveling the mystery and reading the book “thinly”

We can guide children to use multiple flowcharts to analyze the causes and consequences of the plots in the story. When children have a favorite story, but there are a lot of small plots and details in the story that need to be sorted out, they can choose a multiple flowchart that can show the cause and effect relationship of the story as a template - the middle is "event", the left side is "cause", and the right side is "result". Think of the cause of the conflict and the result caused by the event.

Multiple flow charts are widely used in American elementary school classrooms. When American children read stories about "problem solving", they love to use multiple flow charts.

Use time to connect everything and make your thinking clearer

Many friends confuse "multiple flowcharts" and "flowcharts". Although the Chinese translations of the two pictures are very similar and both focus on understanding the story structure and internal logic, the flowchart emphasizes the passage of "time" more.

Children can recall, sort out and summarize the content of the whole story by filling in the flowchart. If children have more creativity, they can design a more beautiful flowchart. The following cases are the results of children reading biographies using flowcharts.

The most important thing is to let the children enjoy it

In practice, parents can guide their children to make a mind map every time they finish reading a book. They can also select books and then draw corresponding mind maps through repeated reading and careful consideration.

In practice, there are two points worth noting:

(1) Before drawing a mind map, parents can ask their children questions or encourage them to discuss with their friends. The mind map is only the result of the discussion, which helps children to leave an impression in their minds and show their fluid thinking.

(2) The most important thing is to let children enjoy it. Mind maps certainly have their own format requirements, but if the child is very creative, you may wish to make some changes. If the mind map is made more beautiful, the child will often take it out and read it. After reading it at different stages, they may have different feelings. They can continue to explore and study the content that they did not understand at the time.

Read books with your children, choose appropriate mind maps, and guide them to draw their own reading thinking!

Note: The pictures in this article are from the Internet