DOING A BRAIN DUMP

How Busy is a Bee?

Can you write down all you know about a honeybee?

This little creature has a brain the size of a grain of salt, tiny compared to humans, but you will be amazed at what it can do!

Make a list of interesting bits of information to help you craft a Thumbchart on a bee!


Dilip Mukerjea writes:

Bees are four-winged, flower-feeding insects. They have enlarged hind feet, branched or feathered body hairs, and generally a stinger. Honeybees and bumblebees are the most common. Bumblebees are larger and stronger than honeybees.

Bees communicate with each other about food sources using dances. The sounds from the movement of the bees is picked up by the tiny hairs on the bee’s head. Bees use the sun in navigation.

The honeybee’s hive has cells made of wax. This is where the queen bee lays her eggs. She lays up to 2000 eggs per day. A queen bee can live for 3-5 years.

Bees turn the nectar from flowers into honey. Worker bees must visit over four thousand flowers to make just a tablespoon of honey.

Beekeepers must be very careful when they remove honey from the hive. They try not to hurt the bees. The beekeepers give sugar syrup to the bees to replace the honey that they take. There is only one queen per hive.

Now it’s your turn to carry on from where Dilip has left off!

Just be spontaneous!

[Excerpted from the 'Thinkerbelles' edition of The InGenius Series of bookazines by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

Say Keng's personal comments:

For me, this is simply a great exercise as well as a stepping stone to a superior idea generation methodology known as 'brainwriting'.

In contrast to the oral sharing of ideas in a team during brainstorming, 'brainwriting' involves team members silently writing & sharing their written ideas.

Research has revealed that 'brainwriting' yields better productivity than 'brainstorming'.

It is believed that its origin has often been attributed to the iconoclast physicist Richard Feynman.

VISUAL LEARNING: THE FUN WAY WITH THUMB CHARTS

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Here are some valuable of tips from Dilip Mukerjea to help you with your Thumbchart Imagery:


[Excerpted from the 'Thinkerbelles' edition of The InGenius Series of bookazines by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

VISUAL LEARNING: THE FUN WAY WITH THUMB CHARTS

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The exercise on ‘Nutrition’ could easily be expanded for you to include information and points of view on, for example:

Tap Water:

Is it safe? Can it be unsafe? Where does the water in the tap come from? Which countries have safe and /or unsafe tap water for drinking? Which countries don’t have any tap water?

Soda Pop!

Are they healthy? Do they contain harmful elements that could make you sick? Why are they so popular? Would it be possible to make soda pop without sugar so that it still tasted great? How does it compare with drinking water?

Nuts:


Are nuts nutritious? What are they made of? Where do they come from? How many different varieties of nuts are there (aside from the human version!)?

Eggs:

Are they good for you? Where do eggs come from? Which animals lay eggs? Do trees lay eggs? Did we come from eggs? Why do eggs have a shell around them?

Which came first: the chicken or the egg?

Here are some simple images for you to start compiling your visual library. Practise drawing these, and other, images. This skill will help you become a Thumbchart expert!


When children get used to drawing, they acquire the skill of seeing what is visible, and what is ‘invisible’! This makes them wonderfully holistic brain processors!

[To be continued in the Next Post. Excerpted from the 'Thinkerbelles' edition of The Ingenius Series of bookazines by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

VISUAL LEARNING: THE FUN WAY WITH THUMB CHARTS

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The Thumbnail Chart below, has the drawings from the previous post, made more elaborate for when you have completed researching your notes for each box.

Stay playful... especially if you have to learn stuff that is serious!

You can enlarge such charts to create Learning Posters!



Clues to get started with research notes: We know we need to eat a minimum of 5 servings of fruit and vegetables everyday. To prevent cancer, 8 to 13 servings per day are recommended. A serving is one cup of raw fruits or vegetables, or ½ cup cooked.

Each colour found in fruits and vegetables focuses on building the immune system in its own way.

Before reading further, can you give examples of fruits and vegetables in various colours?

Some suggestions for the fruits & vegetables colour quiz above:

Green Foods – broccoli, kale, leaf and romaine lettuce, spinach, cabbage and Brussels sprouts;

Red Foods – tomatoes, watermelon, red cabbage;

Orange Foods – carrots, pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes, apricots, cantaloupe;

Green/Yellow Foods – yellow corn, green peas, collard greens, avocado and honeydew melon;

Orange /Yellow Foods – oranges, pineapple, tangerines, peaches, papaya, nectarines;

White/Green Foods – onions, garlic, celery, pears, chives;

Red/Blue/Purple Foods – red apples, beets, blueberries, strawberries, cranberries, prunes,concord grapes, blackberries;

[To be continued in the Next Post. Excerpted from the 'Thinkerbelles' edition of The InGenius Series of bookazines by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

VISUAL LEARNING: THE FUN WAY WITH THUMB CHARTS

Thumbnail Charts or Thumbcharts help us to explore ideas, and to learn efficiently.

These images are not detailed; rather, you zoom into, and quickly jot down your thoughts and feelings about a topic, to create a tapestry I call a Thumbchart.

Here are the steps to get you buzzing:

1. Select your topic;

2. Draw your topic theme and give it a title;

3. Use a pencil or pen, black & white initially if you wish, but multicolour for the final layout;

4. Rough drawings are fine;

5. Write notes beside each drawing in each thumbnail box (and on attached sheets when detailed);

6. Create a legend (a symbol code) to highlight the status of each box;

This strategy gives instant clues for you to recall important details about each item.

In the exercise below, see if you can write brief notes in each box to explain for example, why fruits, vegetables, fish, and water, can be good for you, why you might need to beware of certain cooking oils, and so on.

I have started you off in the ‘Fruits’ and ‘Water’ boxes.

Example: Let us select the topic ‘Nutrition’. A starting point could be ‘Fruits’ and ‘Vegetables’; they provide a variety of nutrients. Now keep going...


[To be continued in the Next Post. Excerpted from the 'Thinkerbelles' edition of The InGenius Series of bookazines by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]