THREE STUDY TECHNIQUES THAT SHOULD NOT BE MISSING IN THE TEACHER'S PLANNING: SCHEME, CONCEPTUAL MAP AND MENTAL MAPS

The scheme, the concept maps, the mental maps are active techniques with which we elaborate with meaning, the information that we are going to learn relating it to each other, against the purely mechanical study

This study plan cannot be lacking in teaching planning. Remember that a plan is a systematic model that is developed before a certain action is carried out with the intention of directing it. In this sense, we can say that a study plan is the curricular design that is applied to certain teachings taught by a study center.

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In this order of ideas, it is important to highlight that the three mentioned study techniques are essential in the teaching-learning process of students, so they should never be lacking in the strategies of teachers to acquire meaningful information in their students.

Most of the teachers often use the schemes and we know them very well using all their versions, but many teachers currently do not involve concept maps or mind maps as a study strategy, which prevents them from having prior knowledge to be able to use them in their students and get the best out of it.

All these study techniques favor the meaningful learning of the students in terms of the understanding of the information, making the most of the symbolic capacity of their brain where students can more easily develop their reflective thinking, stimulate creativity, growth and development of intelligence in addition to stimulating feedback of meanings.

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It is also important to clarify that these three techniques, although they are study tools, have different effects and should never be used as the same since each of them has a specific objective and a different scheme.

1.- The scheme as a study technique is the graphic expression of the underline that contains in a synthesized, logical and hierarchical way the main and secondary ideas of the text which allows to analyze, mentalize and organize all the contents present in a text.
Through the scheme the student with a simple observation can understand and rank ideas.

¿How can we make an outline?
The best way to develop an outline is through comprehensive reading, after the student can interpret what he reads, he can more easily begin to write the outline using underlining to identify main and secondary ideas where braces or bars could be used to break down keywords or short phrases.

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2.- The Concept Map as a study technique represents
graphic tools to organize and represent knowledge since through this technique the desired concept can be structured. They include concepts, usually enclosed in circles or boxes of some kind, and relationships between concepts indicated by a connecting line linking the two concepts.

For understanding concepts, concept maps are excellent specifically for identifying hierarchical levels and highlighting classifications and historical events.
The advantage of using this technique is that they are intended for use by people of all ages, from pre-school children to scientists, although they are not intended to be interpreted by computers. However, it is a way of representing a person's knowledge on a topic, by users of all ages and in all knowledge domains.

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We must never confuse the context of a concept map with that of a mind map because although there are interrelated concepts they are not the same since a mind map differs from a concept map because it is a more flexible diagram.

3.- Mind map is a diagram where interrelated concepts are used that arise spontaneously through brainstorming, where it also represents related concepts based on a main topic or keyword.
Mind maps are excellent for preparing a dissertation or for analyzing a poem or literary work.

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¿What is a mind map and how is it made?
A mind map is a spontaneous representation of thoughts that branches off from a central concept. The visual organization of the diagram encourages brainstorming, effective note taking, increased retention, and an impactful presentation. Mind maps can be simple or elaborate and drawn by hand or on a computer.

Finally, all these study techniques are strategies that we teachers put into practice to acquire meaningful learning in our students with the sole objective of improving learning in an integral way since each person has to learn to learn at their own pace and method.

Reference: teacher's website. Pedagogy