Define+Plan

=Prior Knowledge - Brainstorming & Mindmapping = = =  

[|Mindomo]
= = - Free online  [|mindmapping] tool. This tool is beneficial following the initial brainstorm as it allows the ideas to be sorted and linked. Like most Web 2.0 tools you need to register first. Share your Mindomo maps online providing students a direct link to your map or by embedding your map into an existing webpage. To find out how to use Mindomo visit their [|"help" index]

[|Bubbl.Us]
- Brainstorm online. Share and work with friends. Embed your mind map in your blog or website. Email and print your mind map. Save your mind map as an image

**[|Mindmeister.com]**
- Easy to use and share with your learning partners or friends.

[|Skrbl]
- Free online brainstorming tool which allows up to 5 people to contribute to from different computers at a time. This can occcur within a classroom or across the world. You will need to join first if you want to initiate the brainstorm. Others will be able to contribute without joining. You just need to point them in the right direction. Contributions can be grouped using colour and moved into subgroup categories. You can add pictures.
 * e.g. []
 * [[image:http://www.skrbl.com/images/draw-mode.gif align="left" caption="external image draw-mode.gif"]]Use this icon to switch to drawing mode. Current drawing ability is limited to freehand drawing using your mouse (or other pointing device). Choose a color for your line, click and drag to draw free form lines.
 * Click Here For More [|"How Tos with Skrbl"]

[|MindMap42]
- Keep track of all your ideas, whether alone, with colleagues and friends or working together with the whole world. 42 stands for "for two"

[[image:rellco:conf_wordle.JPG width="280" height="208" align="right" caption="conf_wordle.JPG"]][|WORDLE:]
[|Wordle] is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with [|Wordle] are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the [|Wordle] gallery to share with your friends. This could be an interesting tool for inquiry - keywords, brainstorm, information sources etc. How would you use it? Wordof Warning: As the [|Wordle]s appear on the main page are not screened there is a strong risk that some will be inappropriate for student access.
 * Useful For Inquiry** and Learning Areas e.g. Keywords, Main Focus, Language of the Topic, Students/Group Names, Process Steps. Literacy: Parts of Speech.

__BRAINSTORMING WALL CHART__ ([|Lorraine's]) -
[|Brainstorming Rules.doc] If you have any ideas for adaptions, usefulness or improvements, I'd love to hear them.

__**ABC BRAINSTORM: **__
List all the letters of the alphabet down one side of a sheet of paper. Leave room beside each letter to write out the rest of a word or phrase. Students work individually or in a group to write as many words as they can that are associated with the topic you identify. They do not need to work in any particular order.



__CAROUSEL BRAINSTORM: __
Put students in groups of 3 or 4. Give each group a sheet of newsprint/chart paper. Each group's sheet has a different subtopic written on it. One student serves as the recorder and has a particular color of magic marker. Explain that the students will have a short time (say, 30 seconds) to write down on their chart paper all the words they can think of that they associate with their topic. Explain upfront that you will then have them pass their sheet over to the next group, and a new topic will be passed to them. Make it clear which direction you'll have them pass the sheets so that this is orderly AND so that each group will receive each of the subtopic sheets. At the end of the 30 seconds, tell them to cap their markers, remind them to keep their markers, but have them pass their sheets to the next group according to the pre-determined path for passing. After three or four passings, you will probably want to extend the writing time to 40 seconds, then 45 seconds, and perhaps up to a minute, because all the easy ideas will have been taken by previous groups, and the students will need more time to talk about and think of other terms to be added to the brainstorm list.

Keep having students brainstorm, write, and pass until each group has had a chance to add ideas to each of the subtopic sheets. Let them pass it the final time to the group who had each sheet first.