Reflection – Mind Mapping Tool

The Challenge

Working for a non-for-profit organization, we seek donors to fund our education project. It all starts  with building a project idea that fixed the needs for less critical thinking learning and teaching approach  of young students at their primary level. The traditional ways of teaching and learning are all about  teacher talking and explaining the given lessons and the teacher and chalkboard-centered approach  from grade 1 to 6, resulting students have not critical thinking, no self-reflection, teachers resist from  researching and learning and develop their teaching methods and contents. At the end, students have  high dropout rate as they don’t see any relevance of their education to their family’s livelihoods. The  task is to design a project to be implemented in schools to develop capacity of teachers and their  teaching methodologies, giving them some material so they could teach more participatory, and  engaging students more to the learning and get their parents’ favor to leave them in school.

Selection

I started with a consultation with schoolteachers and parents and meeting with some students. It all  started with brainstorming asking about their challenges and what are and ifs to find what to do and  how. In one of the discussions, we used Mind Mapping as a tools to consolidate brainstormed ideas and  pieces of information to generate a complete project idea.

Application

The discussion started with asking what the key problems are. Everyone raised their ideas after a few  minutes of thinking silently. Then they write or draw it in a piece of paper. The few people from parents,  teachers, school directors and some young students were grouped by their group. I then group them to  discuss their respective ideas and define only one problem per group. Then they need use sticky notes in  different colors (to mark cause and effects, and at different level: personal, family, community, and  government). The sticky notes bring in ideas. The color themes up the ideas into their respective  categories. Then, they put all together and map out a problem tree. The 2nd discussion round was a mix  group. They put all their ideas in different colored sticky notes and come up with and agreed a problem  tree after challenging each other. The same 2nd group was tasked to turn their tree into a solution tree.  Again, they used same color codes but convert the problem to a solution/activity word. The last round  of discussion was in a big group, were all the solution trees will be combined/merged into one solution  trees. To challenge if this ideas worth a project investment, we use the illustration (the solution tree) to  consult with a group of experts from ministry of education and independents. We mapped their ideas  into the community’s thinking and finalize a real solution tree, which we then turned into a project  objectives, activities and budgeting.

Insight

Mind mapping did not start unless we brainstorm for ideas first. Illustration helps young children,  parents who have low education and community to fully engage and reflect back from their real  experience and needs. Mind mapping is useful to see pattern of attitude, knowledge and practice of the  community of problem. These patterns and themes are the great and simple ways to communicate  ideas between experts and communities.

One tool alone is not sufficient for complex issues and different context of the communities/clients due  to their cultures, their level of education, different experiences and thinking. Mind mapping can be used  at any level with almost anyone and any issue, and either in a participatory/engaging way or even just  for yourself.

