Mind Maps as a Lifelong Learning Tool

Mind map, which was developed by Tony Buzan as a note-taking technique, is an application which has the power of uncovering the thoughts which the brain has about a subject from different viewpoints and which activate the right and left lobes of the brain together as an alternative to linear thought. It is known that mind maps have benefits such as recalling, improving the creativity, solving problem, focusing on a subject and organizing the thoughts. It is considered that mind maps have an important place as a lifelong learning tool nowadays when constructivist approach is used as base in the learning-teaching process. From this consideration forth, the objective of this study is to determine the opinions of university students with respect to using of mind maps and developing processes in preparing mind maps. This study was conducted according to interview technique which is among qualitative research methods. A total of 31 students who attend to five different licence programmes at Ankara University Faculty of Educational Sciences in fall semester of 2016-2017 academic year constitute the work group of the study. Semi-structured interview form which was developed by the researcher was used as data collection tool in the study. Data was analysed and interpreted by content analysis technique.