Thinking Maps – The Flow Map

The Flow Map

For seeing events in sequence

Notemaking Guide for Learning Thinking Maps

Flow Map

LOOKS LIKE:

THINKING PROCESS:

NOTES:

Sequence, Order, Cycles,

etc.

Plots, Processes,

ChronologyMajor Stage

Substages

Can go in any direction

What a Flow Map is used for and how to construct one

Examples from Glenmoorand Winton Academies

5

In this art lesson, pupils are shown the final cubism image and then as a class, they work through the stages needed to achieve this on the flow map. Hence, the map here is used to break a large task into smaller, manageable chunks for pupils.

6

In this science lesson, pupils use the flow map to study the stages of a process which they need to learn: diffusion.

7

In this science lesson, the stages of the lesson are clearly laid out as levelled outcomes using the flow map. This allows pupils to see the journey of their progress within the lesson and to measure themselves against this.

8

In this literacy support session, a flow map is used in conjunction with ‘the story mountain’ to help plan an extended piece of writing. This allows the pupil to have an overview of the task before jumping straight in.

9

The use of visuals with FLOW MAPs can be very helpful in embedding the sequence to memory and/or showing the sequence clearly.

The Dual-Coding theory (Palvio) asserts that non-verbal / textual processing should be given equal weight to that of verbal / textual.

Thinking Maps by their very design align to this theory but examples like this show how the dual coding idea can be further developed