Conclusion Society has undergone a dramatic transformation in these last years due to the influence of globalization in our world. It is often said that we live in an age in which there is unlimited access to information. As a result, individuals find it difficult to recognize accurate data. This information overload affects people in many aspects of their lives. Concerning education, students seem to experience difficulties in identifying the main concepts as well as organizing their ideas. Consequently, they end up trying to memorize content without understanding it. In this way, learning does not take place. That is why, the role of the teacher is fundamental in these times, in which we are overloaded with information and data. Educators …show more content…
Teachers need to provide students with useful tools that not only will help them at school but also in their daily lives. As Wolfe poses in her book Brain Matters, “[teachers] need to put more emphasis on teaching to both halves of the brain, since they work together all the time. Content is important, but text without context is often meaningless. [They] need to teach content within a context that is meaningful to students, and that connects to their own lives and experiences. This is teaching both halves of the …show more content…
For these types of information, mnemonic strategies are extremely effective as they create links or associations that give the brain an organizational framework on which to hook new information. In this way, mind maps appear to be one of the most appropriate techniques to “unlock the potential of students’ brains”. They involve relevance, creativity and brevity, as information is connected and organize in a way that every branch comprises a key word. They appear to be particularly effective at increasing pupils’ understanding and retention of information. Perhaps, this is because these visual devices make possible to see connections between aspects of the information that are not obvious in a linear form, such as an outline or a narrative. The structure of these tools resembles the construction used by the brain to organize information. As far as methodology is concerned, this paper intends to show how teachers can take advantage of these mnemonic strategies in their classes. This does not mean that mind maps should be used in every single activity students perform, but instead of that, some methods are employed to show how mind maps can be utilized to hone productive as well as receptive skills in the English