My year 2 students are learning how to stay safe online in our Digital Citizenship unit. We use a lot of resources from the common sense media website (here). I changed our worksheets to incorporate mind maps which was a great addition to our lesson. My students were very excited doing this together with me as they understand the concept of mind maps since we had done an Art, English and ICT integrated project on writing a report on mythical creatures in the last semester where students has created their own mind maps using the program kidspiration.
I started the class with a fun video which had a 7 year old boy giving tips on how to keep children online experiences safe and fun. There after we had a discussion of what do we need to do to stay safe when we visit new places like while we go on a field trip. After this we went on a virtual field trip to Sandiego Zoo and a MOMA – Museum of modern art.
https://www.moma.org/interactives/destination/#
The purpose of this virtual field trip was to make students realise that just as they follow safety rules for travel in the real world, when they go online they should follow safety rules. I wanted my students to understand that on an online field trip, they can visit distant places that they might not be able to go to in person, without ever leaving the classroom. However, this kind of field trip shows them pictures and videos of things rather than the real things. But both types of field trips offer ways to see new and interesting things.
We then discussed our learning, what we saw and learned on the virtual field trip through our mind map here:
https://www.mindomo.com/mindmap/walden-4a5f2c1eab8e45159faf8c89f25e629c
Make your own mind maps with Mindomo.
Amita's Musings 
Amita,
I loved the fact that you did a lesson that incorporated digital citizenship. It is definitely an area I need to work on so I appreciated your ideas on the subject. I also liked that you included graphics to add to the meaning of your graphic organizer. Lastly, I admired how student-centered it was. For example, you had an inquiry within your map to engage students and activate their background knowledge on why they go online in the first place. Moving forward, this would make a great poster for your classroom or class website for easy review or to even add on to throughout the year. This would also be a great way to teach classroom rules at the beginning of the year, showing the connections between being safe, responsible, and respectful because current research on cognitive learning theory supports the use of graphic organizers. In fact, according to Porcaro (2012), organizers communicate relationships directly with visual cues allowing students to sort information, connect ideas, analyze, evaluate, and infer. In other words, mind mapping makes it easier for students to remember and recall information because it helps students visualize ideas and make connections between them.
References
Porcaro, J. W. (2012). Facilitating Communication with Graphic Organizers. TESL Reporter, 44(1), 61-65.
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Hi Heidi,
Thanks for your comments. I think the idea of using the mind map as a poster in my class it a great idea. I could even use augmented reality through the Aurasma app to make the videos come alive!
I agree with you that Digital Citizenship is such an important part of the curriculum, our students today use technology so organically so its important for them to know how to use it responsibly. As spiderman says, ‘With great power comes great responsibility’ – this is our mantra!
Cheers,
Amita
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Reblogged this on Site Title and commented:
This is a really great blog! I enjoyed seeing all of the graphics and pictures. I know the students had to be excited realizing they are able to go to different places without leaving their classroom. Great job!
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Thanks for your kind comment Jennilyn. My students really enjoy this lesson.
Cheers,
Amita
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Seeing your mind map and its use of imagery makes me wish that I had used graphics for my nodes in my mind map. I think it would’ve helped my students remember the main themes of the lesson. Orey (2015) explained Paivio’s dual coding hypothesis, “[H]e argues that there is this phenomena that people can remember images much better than they can remember just text” (3:13). He goes on to say that because of this, pictures become a valuable teaching tool.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2015). Cognitive learning theories [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
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Hi Patricia,
I love using appropriate images & encourage my students to be creator of their own media as and when possible. I feel visual literacy is an area that I wish to develop more of. Mind maps are a great way to do this.
Cheers,
Amita
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Amita,
Great blog post, I really enjoyed how you took the students on trips to various locations. The graphic organizer was very easy to follow and provided direct instruction on what you wanted the students do and how you wanted them to use the information provided. Videos are a great way to take student to places virtually that they cannot go in reality. The locations that you took the students to were places all over the world which gave students visuals of different aspects of life. The information and accessibility was very user friendly and could be used in various classroom settings. I found the graphic organizer Mindomo to be very useful and easy accessible. This application is a great choice to use in the classroom and it can be easily explained to different age groups.
The use of graphic organizers is very important in the 21st century. As educational strategies progress, we must find tools that are aligned with today society. Concept mapping tools aid in the demonstration of network model of memory. These tools allow you to create nods that display information such as ideas and concepts. The concept mapping tools help organize perceived information making it easier for students to understand, retain and recall information (Laureate Education, 2015c). Graphic organizers such as a mind map provides several visuals such as videos and images while help the brain retain concepts and make connections between prior knowledge and new information (Milner,2014).
Reference
Laureate Education (Producer). (2015c). Cognitive learning theories [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Milner, R. E. (2014). Learner Differences and Learning Outcomes in an Introductory Biochemistry Class: Attitude toward Images, Visual Cognitive Skills, and Learning Approach. Biochemistry And Molecular Biology Education, 42(4), 285-298.
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Hi Valencia,
Thanks for your comments. I am glad you found mindomo useful, I have been using it for nearly 3 years now and it has been a great resources.
Cheers,
Amita
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