Concept Map

For this concept map I chose the topic of field hockey. I chose this because field hockey has been a big part of my life and I have learned so many things from it. I played all throughout high school and I am currently starting a field hockey club at RWU. I was interested to see all the ideas I associated with field hockey and how they all connected. While making this map I had a hard time not making it into a mind map. My first draft came out to be very similar to a mind map with a lot of confusing lines. To help solve this problem I moved the topic to the top of the page instead of the center, so I had more room to connect the ideas. I also thought it made more sense to use "team" as a subcategory and have all of my ideas split off from there. I still had a hard time making it clear how these ideas connected, so I wrote words on the connecting lines to help explain what idea it lead to next. I also used symbols, like an equals sign and arrows. There were a couple key words that had the same connecting words like winning  and team that really visually helped make it clear what makes a team and the same qualities that make a team also lead to winning.

Mind Map

Map 1

Map 2

I have been thinking a lot about study abroad lately and with deadlines approaching I decided that it would be a good topic for a mind map so I could organize and discover my thoughts on the issue. I started with the my main concerns and excitements for studying abroad and then wrote all other words and thoughts that came to mind. Later when I went back to my mind map I noticed that I had repeated a lot of words and so I highlighted these words in the same color color so I could visually see what my mind was getting stuck on and what were recurring themes. I also colored any words with negative connotation and feelings connected to them in red so I could see what I had anxiety about and what I should focus on resolving. I learned that I had a lot of anxiety around words related to language barriers and finances. I also learned from my visual that study abroad would be an experience that I can really grow from and that is why I chose a theme of plants and roots.

For my second mind map I decided that my most pressing issue that needed to be worked out before I could figure out the rest, was where I wanted to go, and what I wanted out of the experience. I chose Location to be my central word and built off from it with my idea of a perfect experience. I had a harder time finding information for the second one because after starting I seemed to find a pattern and easy solution to my issue. Most of my words revolved around being in a city and by the water. All of the words on my mind map helped me understand what I wanted without limiting myself to one program, but instead looked at what I freely wrote down and then found a program that fit the description.