DMC Home : Explore Teaching Strategies : Mind Mapping :

Representing Labor Relations

John Budd from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management promotes active learning in his classes by having students in small groups create mind maps.

Instructional Goals

As a classroom activity, mind mapping

  • facilitates collaborative learning and brainstorming;
  • accommodates different learning styles;
  • energizes his students; and
  • encourages classroom discussion.

Mind mapping also promotes discipline-specific goals and objectives. His students

  • explore labor conflict and resolution issues by examining historical materials;
  • understand the range of contributing factors by visually representing a historical moment; and
  • hierarchize and contextualize contributing factors by organizing information.

Learning Strategies

Budd assigns students two mind mapping exercises over the course of a term. Both involve the same steps and take approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes.

  1. In class, he asks students to break into groups of three and create a mind map about an assigned topic in one hour.
  2. He gives each group large sheets of paper, small Post-it® notes, and colored markers.
  3. He encourages them to
    • write down each main idea or event associated with the assignment on a Post-it® note;
    • arrange and rearrange the notes on a sheet of paper until everyone agrees on an organizational scheme;
    • draw a map of the scheme on paper with markers;
    • use different colors to represent different branches;
    • illustrate the maps with images; and
    • use single words because phrases or full sentences can limit their ability to create associations.
  4. All mind maps are then posted in class and discussed.

Assignment 1: Bargaining Environment Mind Maps

Students are given three newpaper articles from different years which, while fictional, dramatize real historical events and facts. Each group maps one article so that the class as a whole will generate a series of maps that represent important moments in time. Budd describes the assignment in this way:

Use the three fictitious newspaper articles to analyze the labor relations environment for Phelps Dodge and Morenci Miners Local 616 contract negotiations and to create a Mind Map for one of the years. In other words, assess the factors affecting the bargaining climate and determining relative bargaining power. After thinking about the three scenarios, brainstorm with your team and then create a Mind Map which presents a taxonomy of bargaining environment factors and specific examples. You are encouraged to consider factors not mentioned explicitly by the newspaper accounts. Note that the newspaper articles are based on fact, but have been embellished for classroom use.

Assignment 2: Effects of Unions Mind Maps

In small groups, students create maps that illustrate the historical impact of labor unions. The exercise occurs toward the end of the semester and provides students with an opportunity to reflect on the course.

Related Resources

Last modified Tuesday, 19-Jun-2007 15:30:16 CDT