Content Maps

I read yesterday that to remember something there are 3 phases:  acquisition, storage and retrieval.  For something to be "caught", one has to pay attention to it.  For it to move on down the chain, one has to connect it to something else.

In my mind, this is like organizing items in a closet.  First, I start off with the item.  It's in my hand and I'm looking at it.  Next, I find a place on the shelf with like items.  Lastly, when I need it, I remember where it is, I go to the shelf and I get it.

Here's the craft of teaching:  guiding students to make those connections so they don't "drop" the new information, but instead they put it on shelves in their brains.  This doesn't happen effortlessly.  One way to do that is with content maps.  I love thinking maps and graphic organizers.  I'm a visual thinker so organizing thoughts in graphic organizers is a natural process for me.

However, I haven't found (or really looked) for a way to utilize technology with graphic organizers.  Power Point can work but it's clumsy.  Well, it's time to search the glorious internet and see what I can find.  Content maps can benefit students in memory retention so I'm on a quest to find a way to make them accessible. 


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