My Mind Map on a Primary 4 Science Topic on Plants

MIND MAP OVERVIEW OF SIX PAGES OF A PRIMARY FOUR SCIENCE NOTES ON PLANTS

One day on returning home from office after a long day in April 2000, I tumbled across a set of my daughter's primary 4 notes on plants. Well it was full of notes and pictures of the different parts of the plants. For each part of the plant there were further sub-divisions.

I suddenly felt that I could do better in organising that set of notes as I just wanted to show my daughter how much better it is if the notes were organised in this way. I managed to complete the task within 2 hours and presented it to her. The FUN and LEARNING elements of the mind map was that it was full of COLOUR and, KEY WORDS (LEAVES, FRUITS, FLOWERS and ROOTS) and provided an overview of the 6-pages of a black and white type written set of science notes that the school gave to each student. I believe, it provided an interesting corridor for my child to look at things in a HOLISTIC manner and INTEREST her in science that no other methods was able to do in 2000. The mind map above could be improved by adding other KEYWORDS such as SEEDS, STEMS and BUDS, etc.

I was proud of my work and during the course of my career shared it with many people who was delighted with the summary.

Writing this blog at this point of time made me wonder and reflect on how to further interest the current batch of primary, secondary and polytechnic students to take the study of science more seriously. I shall further pen my thoughts on this in view of the development of IT and mind maps software in recent times. How can we make it even more brain-friendly that even the UNINTERESTED are drawn towards LEARNING science in a very gentle and gradual manner. It is something that I always challenge myself. I hope I would be able to write something about it later.

AFTERNOTE:
I am proud that this post gained the highest number of page views among all the mind maps that I have posted since 2011. It is viewed many times over that of my second most viewed mind map.

Mind Map Blog by Choon Boo LIM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

My Mind Map on Jack Neo's "I Not Stupid" Movie on 17 Feb 2002

Yes, the mind map below is on the movie "I Not Stupid" (Chinese: 小孩不笨; pinyin: Xiǎohái Bù Bèn) which I watched with my wife on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year. Of course it was not done in real-time as many of my friends and mind mappers wanted to know. Reason being that I was really having a great time laughing at all the jokes that made Jack Neo, the Director and Producer of the film famous, that, I had no time to record it live. Furthermore, the theatre was too dark also for me to draw his and Terry Khoo's portraits.

Till today, I could still feel and laugh at the jokes just by reading the key words from the mind map. I created it immediately after watch the show as what Jack did in the movie was really brilliant and creative. Some of the interesting points that I enjoyed are:

EM3 STREAM
He highlighted the stigma of being an EM3 Stream Student . This, together with other feedbacks, probably, led to refinement/ restructuring of SINGAPORE's very successful ABILITY-DRIVEN EDUCATION [CLICK HERE], that were announced by Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the then Minister for Education, at the MOE Work Plan Seminar on 28 Sep 2006. EM3 students are streamed into a subject-based banding system that "provides enriching learning experiences for high-ability students at the primary school level and to allow for greater integration between Gifted Education Programme (GEP) students with others" [CLICK HERE]. 

THE INTERNET
The long reaches of the Internet,

NUTS
The No U-Turn Syndrome (NUTS) 

INSTITUTE OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION (ITE)
ITE used to stand for "It's The End" - Jack managed to creatively unveil how students or even some parents do not want their children to go to ITE. Actually, ITE, The Institute of Technical Education, should in my opinion thank him for bringing more publicity for the great work that ITE has provided to many of Singapore's students who went through that education route. The few days of free newspaper publicity really gave ITE a chance to showcase their achievements of some of their students who went on to obtain PhDs. FAST FORWARD.....ITE has reformed itself to a world-class institution of technical education winning the prestigious Singapore Quality Award (SQA) in the process.

OTHER GOVT POLICIES
Issues on some government policies etc.... are examples of some of Singapore's social and political coffee-shop-talk prior to 2002.

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My Mind Map on "What is Going On in the Universe" by Prof S Jocelyn Bell Burnell at the Singapore Science Centre on 26 Feb 2009

My interests in the Universe mushroomed since I was 12 years old, when I started to realise that our Solar System and Milky Way Galaxy in our Universe could possibly be equivalent to that of a water molecule in our mighty ocean. Thus, when Dr Pang from the Singapore Science Centre together with the British Council Singapore invited members of the public to the talk on "What is Going on in the Universe" by Prof S Jocelyn Bell Burnell on 26 Feb 2009, I quickly jumped and accepted it.

I was not disappointed listening about Dark Matter and Dark Energy and about the surprising discovery that the Universe is further expanding instead of contracting as most people believed. I was surprised to know that Professor Burnell was the first person to discover the first radio pulsars as a postgraduate student and that 2009 was also the International Year of Astronomy.

This mind map posted here is dedicated to Professor Burnell's excellent presentation of what is really happening in our universe. It brought me up to date regarding some of the matters that was of interest to me, but did not have the time to pursue in our hectic lifestyle.
I am glad I came for this excellent presentation.

Mind Map Blog by Choon Boo LIM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

My Mind Map on "Google, iPhone, What's Next" Lecture by Prof Yong LIAN, NUS Provost's Chair Professor on 22 Sep 2011 at the Engineering Auditorium

I was quite excited when I received an invitation from the Engineering Alumni Singapore for which I was a member, to attend the prestigious bi-annual Engineering Lecture on "Google, iPhone, What's Next" that was delivered by Professor Yong LIAN (Synopsis and his CV are given below). It was hosted by the Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore at the Engineering Auditorium on 22 Sep 2011 at 7pm-8pm.

Naturally, I was all ready to mind map the talk in real-time on my iPad2. Needless to say, the talk was really interesting and excellently presented by Prof YongLIAN.

Above is an enlarged image of the mind map I did on Prof Yong LIAN's lecture. [If you need the full image of the mind mapped lecture that I did, please send me an email request (lcblcb1@gmail.com). I would be pleased to let you have a copy of the mind map that was done using my iMindMap software on my iPad2 which I just bought in Jun 2011]. I was pleased that I was able to mind map the lecture in real-time without bringing my bunch of coloured pens/markers as all the colours can be found in the software. 

For more information regarding the synopsis of the talk and speaker, please click here

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My Mind Map on Sun Tzu's Art of War (孙子兵法) (Sun Zi Bing Fa) by Khoo Kheng Hor in Civil Service College on Sat, 3rd July 1999

I came across two YouTube clip Sun Tzu's Art of War (孙子兵法) by this guru of the AOW and how he applied it to present day situations.

http://youtu.be/fg1-60JZaSY and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1vWxN3KL6E. Interested viewers may like to take see the master at work.  

SUMMARY of MIND MAP "ART of WAR" LECTURE BY MR KHOO KHENG-HOR

This mind map on Sun Zi's (or Sun Tzu) Art of War (孙子兵法) remains as one of my all time favourites. It was graciously autographed by Mr Khoo Kheng-Hor, the MD of Stirling Consultants & Management Pte Ltd and the Sun Zi Guru, after he delivered the course in Civil Service College on Sat. 3rd July 1999. I was really fortunate to have attended his wonderful and interesting course. I have always recommended all my friends who happen to be see my mind map or were given one, to attend Mr Khoo's Sun Zi's courses.

The course is full of examples of how to apply Sun Zi's Art of War at work and at home. It was even more memorable as I did not have time to prepare the central image unlike mind maps that I drew during courses that I attended. Thus, having to prepare the central image on the spot and being able to mind map his course beautifully was indeed a Von Restorff! Also, using my precious mind map, I was also able to explain some of the interesting elements of the Art of War to others. I could still recall the same joy I had enjoyed listening to his talk on that Saturday morning in Civil Service College. I have indeed been "Suntzunize" by Mr Khoo Kheng-Hor. Thank you Mr Khoo for the excellent and succinct presentation.

Afternote: I spotted a video clip on YouTube, http://youtu.be/fg1-60JZaSY . Interested viewers may like to take see the master at work.

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My Mind Map on Denis Waitley's "Empires of the Mind - Lead and Succeed in the KBE World" Seminar in Ngee Ann Polytechnic on Mon, 27th SEP 1999

Dr Denis Waitley came to Ngee Ann Polytechnic on Monday, 27th September 1999 to deliver a seminar entitled "Empires of the Mind - How to Lead and Succeed in a KBE World". I joined hundreds of NP staff in the Multi-purpose Hall (MPH) for the seminar.

I had just then completed my Buzan Licensed Instructor's course in Mind Mapping in the United Kingdom in March 1999 and was determined to mind map the seminar on one A3-sized paper. Many thought it was an impossible task. But, at the end of the seminar, there was only admiration for my beautifully coloured mind mapped note and I was rewarded when Dr Denis Waitley autographed my creation.

With the aid of my mind map, I was able to recall about 70-80% of what was lectured during the 3-hour seminar. It remained one of the many treasured work-of-the-art pieces in my collection.

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My Mind Map on "Technology Enhanced Learning" Course on 1st Dec 2011

I attended this course as I felt that it was very important to keep up with the rapid pace of changes in technology that is taking place in the Internet.

I was not disappointed about what I learnt from the course.

The excellent presentation made by Murray, Preetam and Hui Leng from TLC, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, definitely showed that one has to continually learn, unlearn and relearn new things in this KBE world of ours. I found the material introduced, very relevant in the context of engaging and interacting with our young learners. Using IT tools that would hopefully stimulate their interest as well as open up the opportunities and possibilities for them in learning.

Fortunately, I managed to mind map the course together with most of the linkages and websites that were shown during the short, but very useful 3-hour course. These links would certainly be a great aid for me to refer to whenever I want. e.g. How to generate your own QR code? Preetam, TLC's Internet Guru was kind to show me how to do it with the image attached. Just follow the steps outline in red. Thanks, Preetam.

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My Mind Map of PM Goh Chok Tong's SQA Speech on 15 July 1998 at Shangri la Hotel

As I was an SQA Assessor for 1997/98, I was invited to the SQA Awards Presentation and Dinner ceremony at Shangri la on 15 July 1998.

I was very excited when I learnt that the Guest-of-Honour was going to be the Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong himself. I have made up my mind to try to mind map his speech. Mentally, I prepared myself by thinking about what he would say during the SQA Awards Presentation. The occasion was just after the 1997 financial crisis. So I read as much information there is about it.

At the same time, I prepared the Central Theme for mind mapping his speech. What should be the image that would best associate this occasion with the PM? Since, it would be delivered by the PM himself, so I decided to draw a portrait of the PM next to the SQA Trophy.

The night of the award came. I was a bit nervous as I knew I have only one chance to mind map his speech. To my amazement, I managed to surprisingly summarise most of the key points of his speech on my mind map. I believe, it was due to my preparation for this important real-time mind mapping of the PM's speech. I subsequently went up to the PM and requested for his autograph on my mind map. PM was very obliging and I thanked him.

I was indeed very happy to be the owner of the only real-time mind-mapped speech of a Prime Minister.

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My Mind Map on the 26th SIM Annual Management Lecture by Dr John Naisbitt on 23rd Aug 2007

Mind Map on Dr John Naisbitt's talk drawn in real-time.

1. I was delighted to be invited to the 26th AML organised by the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) on Thursday, 23 Aug 2007 at Raffles City Convention Centre. The speaker was Dr John Naisbitt (International Best-selling author of Megatrends and Megatrends 2000) and he spoke on the topic of "Mindsets to See the Future - The Next Big Thing".
2. Excited, I started to make my own preparations like drawing his portrait as part of the central image for the A3-sized mind map that I was determined to do in real-time as I had done for many past prominent speakers and lectures.
3. Subsequently, I was lucky that the real-time mind map summary of the talk including the discussion that followed at the end of the lecture turned out to be quite presentable. The attached picture above shows the autographed mind map by Dr John Naisbitt.
4. After the lecture, I found that the lecture that he gave was actually a summary of his book on "MindSet". I was elated and did a short review of his book.

Mind Map Blog by Choon Boo LIM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License