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Potential, challenge and infinite possibilities

By Mike Levy (August 2004 Issue)
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After 33 years and 86 books aimed at improving how we learn rather than what we learn, Tony Buzan thinks his time has finally arrived. Buzan has helped to instigate and organise an innovative new accelerated learning conference and exhibition called Learning Expo 2004, which is being held in Cambridge from 28th July to 2nd September inclusive. He is in optimistic mood and the title of his three-day workshop at the event, ‘Good thinking and smart learning’, reveals an agenda that is universally applicable. ‘Think about it; this is something that should be everyone’s objective,’ says Buzan, who for more than 30 years has been challenging the way we learn through his seminal work on the brain and learning. He is, of course, best known for inventing the Mind Map®, a powerful graphic technique that provides a universal key to unlock the potential of the brain. Developed by Buzan in the late 1960s, it harnesses the full range of cortical skills – word, image, number, logic, rhythm, colour and spatial awareness – in a single, uniquely powerful manner. In Buzan’s words, ‘In so doing, it gives you the freedom to roam the infinite expanses of your brain.’ He also says that it unlocks the 99 per cent of our brain power that usually lies dormant.

The process may have begun, but there is a long way to go. Buzan feels that traditional teaching and learning methods could benefit from accelerated learning techniques. ‘We expect children to sit in the classroom and learn how to think, write, create, solve problems and learn,’ he says, ‘but we haven’t been giving them any instruction on how to do this. It’s like giving someone an F1 Ferrari without an operations manual. The inevitable result is a crash. A child needs to know how its own brain functions in terms of the higher mental skills.’

 

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