КОРИСТЕЊЕ НА АЛАТКАТА МАПА НА УМОТ ВО НАСТАВАТА И ВО УЧЕЊЕТО

Abstract

If the material for a particular course is learned superficially, by rote, the thinking process is being stifled and the material will be forgotten. The material should be learned with understanding, in order for the knowledge gained to be applied thenceforth. Two questionnaires were distributed to the students of the Department of Accounting and Auditing at the Faculty of Economics - Skopje, “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” University in Skopje, who attended lectures in Mathematical Methods in the academic year 2014/2015. The first questionnaire was designed to obtain information on whether they take and make notes, what they use for that purpose, and the style they use. The second one was designed to identify the benefits of the application of a tool (mind map) in the teaching and learning of the material for the course Mathematical Methods, as well as the limitations of this tool. The first questionnaire demonstrated that all of the respondents take notes when they attend the lectures at the Faculty, 94% of them take notes when reading the material for a mid-term or final exam, and all of them make notes. For note-taking and note-making, they use a sentential style or a numerical or alphabetical sketch style, using letters, words, numbers and colors. Based on the responses from the second questionnaire, 11 benefits of the application of a mind map in teaching were identified, with the ones that were most frequently referred to being: better memory, clarity, a guide for learning, an interesting way of repeating the chapter, and a better understanding of the material of each chapter. Regarding the application of the tool for learning the material of the course Mathematical Methods, 12 benefits have been identified, and the ones most frequently referred to are: fast acquisition of the material, the most important things are summarized in a clear way, the material is learned with understanding, and learning is far more interesting. Aside from the benefits, 3 limitations of the mind map tool were also identified. In addition, it was determined that 91% of the respondents want to use the mind map tool in other courses as well.