A young boy in a good shape

As you may know from a previous post, my nearly 8 years old son Baptiste has already started to create mind maps, both on paper and in iMindMap 5. A couple of days ago, we discussed the possibility to participate to the ThinkBuzan competition and win an iPod touch. Very quickly, he decided to be part of it. As you may know from a previous post, my nearly 8 years old son Baptiste has already started to create mind maps, both on paper and in iMindMap 5. A couple of days ago, we discussed the possibility to participate to the ThinkBuzan competition and win an iPod touch. Very quickly, he decided to be part of it.

What will be your central idea?
My son and I did not discussed so much about the topic that would be mapped. Baptiste selected a subject from school, the geometric shapes.
What will be your main branches?
The decision about the dimension that would be used for the main branches took a bit more time. Because it was still unclear at this stage of the process what would contain the mind map, Baptiste could not identify immediately its first level branches. So I proposed him to first collect all the shapes and look for some characteristics that would help him to categorise the set.
Baptiste is already familiar with new technologies. He knows roughly how to use a software.  With Microsoft Powerpoint,  he drew the set of geometric forms he wanted to place in his mind map. He found most of them in the list of predefined shapes and could easily colour them with the Quick Styles button.

While drawing, my son remembered that each shape has a certain number of sides and quite naturally, he decided to use this information for the main branches.

How do you start with iMindMap?
I had to explain to my son how to create a mind map with the application. We selected the central image from the default library and we added the title. Then, Baptise made a couple of exercises in order to understand how to add a branch, edit the text on the branch, move the branch, delete the branch. He also created deeper levels of branches. He could do most of the work with the keyboard in a speed mind map mode. Once trained, he proceeded with the different main branches and sub-branches for its geometric forms.

Can you make it better?
Because he saw several mind maps I realised, he asked me to improve the look of the one he created. In order to be fair with other competitors, we decided that Baptiste would learn how to do it himself. I explained shortly what was possible with the formatting menu of iMindMap, mainly how to change character size, colour and font. He made most of the words bigger and more colours everywhere. With the mouse he played with the connection points on the different branches in order to better exploit the space and create a better flow among branches. I had also to explain how to copy the images he prepared in Microsoft Powerpoint and paste them on the branches in iMindMap, what he did perfectly.
Just in case, I asked my son how he knew that the Hexagon was a shape with 6 sides. He told me that the teacher explained the meaning of the prefix “Hexa”. It was a good opportunity to brainstorm about the other prefixes and add this information as well.
He could also distinguished the square and the rectangle from other four-sided shapes because every angle is a right angle. He created a new sub-branch with this characteristics and re-positioned the two branches containing  “square” and “rectangle” as children of that new branch.  Here is the final map.

Can you present it to mama?
Baptiste is very proud of his mind map. He is also able to explain what he did using the presentation mode of iMindMap. He understood very quickly how to control it. I was proud myself as well when  he made the presentation to my wife who was astonished by the performance of this young boy who was perfectly mastering his subject.
It’s amazing to see what Baptiste did but it also proving that it is possible. Children like to draw mind maps, like to use computers and do not really feel the fear to present. By giving them as soon as possible some good tools and techniques, they will be better prepare to face the challenges in their life.