Keywords
convergent thinking
early school education
students
Abstract
The article discusses the use of mind maps as a tool supporting the development of convergent thinking in second-grade primary school students. The theoretical foundations of mind maps according to Tony Buzan and the results of research confirming the effectiveness of this note-taking technique are presented. Issues related to convergent thinking in the view of J.P. Guilford are also described. The effectiveness of mind maps was tested using a quasi-experiment. The study was a pilot study aimed at validating the test – a research tool. The constructed test of the level of convergent thinking took into account the indicators given by J.P. Guilford: class production, systems production, transformation production and implication production. The results showed that at the initial stage, the levels in both the experimental and control groups were low in most of the students. After a series of classes on the implementation of mind maps in the experimental group, the number of students with a medium and high level of convergent thinking increased. There were also positive developments in the production of semantic implications. These changes, although partially statistically significant, indicate the potential of this method in developing convergent thinking in students. Therefore, it is worth implementing mind maps in early school education and expanding research in this area.
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