Top 7 Free Mind Mapping Tools For Students by Lauren Gartner

Top 7 Free Mind Mapping Tools For Students Mind mapping has been a classroom graphic organizer tool that students have used for years. Long before any software tools for this process were available, students learned how to take pencil to paper and create their own mind maps when they needed to: Brainstorm ideas for an essay or paper Organize ideas into categories or steps Prioritize ideas and concepts Benefits of Mind Mapping The biggest benefit of mind mapping is that students are able to see all of their thoughts on a specific topic or idea as a whole. This makes it easy to then do the following: Combine ideas or sub-topics that are similar Eliminate those that are duplicates or unimportant/irrelevant Organize and prioritize ideas or sub-topics Student use of mind mapping in order to prepare for writing is probably the most important use. Consider some of the possibilities If a student is writing a persuasive essay, the mind map will allow combining and prioritizing the arguments that will be used A character sketch – a mind map can be used to note all of the character traits that will be covered, and, under those, examples from the story or novel that will be used as evidence Research Paper Organization of Sub-Topics, along with reference citations for those sub-topics Plots for narratives can be chronologically organized Technology Comes to Mind Mapping It was only natural that mind mapping tools were be developed, both as independent software programs and as online apps. In fact, there are now a huge number for both educational and business use. Of course, for students, â€Å"free† is always better, and there are plenty of mind mapping tools that have free personal accounts. Freebies: The following is a list of the most popular free mind mapping tools that are easy to use, allow collaboration with other students, and have a number of features that make assignments, organization, and planning much more efficient. Mindmeister This tool is online, so that it can be accessed from anywhere and with any device. You can use it solo or collaborate with other students if you are involved in a group project. The live chat feature makes it even more attractive. Watch the demo on their website. MindMap This is a Google Chrome extension, with Dropbox, Google Drive, and Cloud built in. It can be used locally or in the cloud and allows the printing and exporting of completed maps. The other great feature is that you can add text, images, links, etc. and customize color so that sub-topics and sub-sub topics re easily recognizable. Bubbl.us This is one of the simplest mind mapping tools to be found. Once you type your main idea or topic, the tree begins. You may then type in â€Å"sub-level† terms, and they are automatically placed. You can then move the bubbles around. There is also an auto-save feature and, because it is online, you can collaborate with others. The drawback of this app is that you cannot add images, links or files unless you purchase the premium version. Xmind This is an open source tool with some unique features. You can export any map in other formats – PDF, TXT, JPEG, etc. It has tree, logic and fishbone charts, for personal preference and depending upon your project. The basic account is free but, as you add features, the price can go up to $80. Text2Mind If you are a beginner to mind mapping tools, this is a great starter too. You simply type in your main topic or concept and click â€Å"map.† Immediately, you map is generated with the topic in the center. As you type in new text as sub-topics, it is immediately positioned for you. There are built-in keyboard shortcuts and you can download to your own device as a PDF or Image. SpiderScribe This online tool allows you to place notes and files, as well as URL’s and reference citations. Because it is stored in the Cloud, there is easy access from anywhere and the ability to share with others (you can designate â€Å"read only† or â€Å"read and write†). Personal accounts are free. There is a great tutorial/tour video to orient any â€Å"newbie.† iMindQ Interactive mind mapping tool is flexible enough to fit different needs like business, education or personal use. The tool has two appearances - as an application for Windows or Mac and a subscription-based online service, giving you the freedom of choice. Possibilities like MS Office integration and Multi-Language support make this tool even more attractive. For students new to mind mapping, these are probably the easiest to use tools. Once you begin to use mind mapping tools, you will see the benefits!

The History of Ostrich Domestication

The History of Ostrich Domestication Ostriches (Struthio camelus) are the largest bird alive today, with adults weighing between 200–300 pounds (90-135 kilograms). Adult males attain a height of up to 7.8 feet (2.4 meters) tall; females are slightly smaller. Their immense body size and small wings make them incapable of flying. Ostriches have a remarkable tolerance to heat, withstanding temperatures up to 56 degrees C (132 degrees F) without much stress. Ostriches have been domesticated for only about 150 years, and are truly only partly domesticated, or, rather, are only domesticated for a short period of their lives. Key Takeaways: Ostrich Domestication Ostriches were domesticated (and only partly) in South Africa in the mid-19th century.  South African farmers and their British colonial overlords were responding to an enormous demand for fluffy ostrich feathers used in Victorian-era fashions.Although they are adorable as chicks, ostriches are not good pets, because they quickly grow into bad-tempered giants with sharp claws.   Ostriches as Pets? Keeping ostriches in zoos as exotic pets was practiced in Bronze Age Mesopotamia at least as early as the 18th century BCE. Assyrian annals mention ostrich hunts, and some royal kings and queens kept them in zoos and harvested them for eggs and feathers. Although some modern day people do attempt to keep ostriches as pets, no matter how gently you raise them, within a year, the cute fluffy juvenile ball grows to a 200-pound behemoth with sharp claws and the temperament to use them.​ Far more common and successful is ostrich farming, producing red meat similar to beef or venison, and leather goods from the hides. The ostrich market is variable, and as of the 2012 agricultural census, there are just a few hundred ostrich farms in the U.S. Ostrich Life Cycle There are a handful of recognized modern sub-species of ostrich, including four in Africa, one in Asia (Struthio camelus syriacus, which has been extinct since the 1960s) and one in Arabia (Struthio asiaticus Brodkorb). Wild species are known to have been present in North Africa and Central Asia, although today they are restricted to sub-Saharan Africa. South American ratite species are only distantly related, including Rhea americana and Rhea pennata. Wild ostriches are grass eaters, usually concentrating on a handful of annual grasses and forbs that yield essential protein, fiber, and calcium. When they dont have a choice, they will eat leaves, flowers, and fruits of non-grassy plants. Ostriches mature at between four and five years of age and have a lifespan in the wild of up to 40 years. They are known to travel in the Namib desert between 5 to 12 miles (8–20 kilometers) per day, with an average home range of about 50 mi (80 km). They can run up to 44 mi (70 km) per hour when necessary, with a single stride of up to 26 ft (8 m). It has been suggested that Upper Paleolithic Asian ostriches migrated seasonally, as an adaptation to climate change. Ancient Appearance: Ostrich as Megafauna Ostriches are of course an ancient prehistoric bird, but they show up in the human record as ostrich eggshell (often abbreviated OES) fragments and beads from archaeological sites beginning about 60,000 years ago. Ostriches, along with mammoth, were among the last Asian megafaunal species (defined as animals which weigh more than 100 kg) to become extinct. Radiocarbon dates on archaeological sites associated with OES begin near the end of the Pleistocene, late in Marine Isotope Stage 3 (ca. 60,000–25,000 years ago). Central Asian ostriches went extinct during the Holocene (what archaeologists call the last 12,000 years or so). The east Asian ostrich Struthio anderssoni, native to the Gobi Desert, was among the megafaunal species that went extinct during the Holocene: they survived the Last Glacial Maximum only to apparently be done in by increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. That increase also increased the number of grasses, but it negatively impacted the forage availability in the Gobi. In addition, it is possible that human over-use during the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene might have occurred, as mobile hunter-gatherers moved into the region. Human Use and Domestication Beginning in the late Pleistocene, ostriches were hunted for their meat, their feathers, and their eggs. Ostrich shell eggs were likely hunted for the protein in their yolks but were also very useful as light, strong containers for water. Ostrich eggs measure up to 6 inches (16 centimeters) long and can carry up to one quart (about one liter ) of fluid. Ostriches were first kept in captivity during the Bronze Age, in a tamed and semi-domesticated state, in gardens of Babylon, Nineveh, and Egypt, as well as later in Greece and Rome. Tutankhamuns tomb included images of hunting the birds with a bow and arrow, as well as a very fancy ivory ostrich feather fan. There is documented evidence of ostrich riding since the first millennium BCE at the Sumerian site of Kish. European Trade and Domestication The full domestication of the ostrich was not attempted until the mid-19th century when South African farmers established farms solely for harvesting the plumage. At the time, and indeed for several centuries before that and since, ostrich feathers were in high demand by fashionistas from Henry VIII to Mae West. Feathers can be harvested from the ostrich every six to eight months without ill effects. During the first decade of the 20th century, ostrich feathers used in the fashion industry had driven the value per pound to that nearly equal to that of diamonds. Most of the feathers came from Little Karoo, in the Western Cape region of southern Africa. That was because, in the 1860s, the British colonial government had actively facilitated export-oriented ostrich raising. The Darker Side of Ostrich Farming According to historian Sarah Abrevaya Stein, in 1911 the Trans-Saharan Ostrich Expedition took place. That involved a British-government sponsored corporate espionage group who snuck into French Sudan (chased by American and French corporate spies) to steal 150 Barbary ostriches, famed for their double fluff plumes, and brought them back to Cape Town to be inbred with the stock there. By the end of World War II, though, the market for feathers crashed- by 1944, the only market for the fanciest of plumes was on cheap plastic Kewpie dolls. The industry managed to survive by broadening the market to meat and hides. Historian Aomar Boum and Michael Bonine have argued that the European capitalist passion for ostrich plumes decimated both wild animal stocks and African livelihoods based on wild ostriches. Sources Al-Talhi, Dhaifallah. Almulihiah: A Rock Art Site in the Hail Region, Saudi Arabia. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 23.1 (2012): 92–98. Print.Bonato, Maud, et al. Extensive Human Presence at an Early Age of Ostriches Improves the Docility of Birds at a Later Stage of Life. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 148.3–4 (2013): 232–39. Print.Boum, Aomar, and Michael Bonine. The Elegant Plume: Ostrich Feathers, African Commercial Networks, and European Capitalism. The Journal of North African Studies 20.1 (2015): 5–26. Print.Brysbaert, Ann. ‘The Chicken or the Egg?’ Interregional Contacts Viewed through a Technological Lens at Late Bronze Age Tiryns, Greece. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 32.3 (2013): 233–56. Print.dErrico, Francesco, et al. Early Evidence of San Material Culture Represented by Organic Artifacts from Border Cave, South Africa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109.33 (2012): 13214–19. Print.Gegner, Lance E. Ratite Production: Ostrich, Emu and Rhea. Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas: National Center for Appropriate Technology, 2001. 1–8. Print. Janz, Lisa, Robert G. Elston, and George S. Burr. Dating North Asian Surface Assemblages with Ostrich Eggshell: Implications for Palaeoecology and Extirpation. Journal of Archaeological Science 36.9 (2009): 1982–89. Print.Kurochkin, Evgeny N., et al. The Timing of Ostrich Existence in Central Asia: AMS 14c Age of Eggshells from Mongolia and Southern Siberia (a Pilot Study). Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms 268.7–8 (2010): 1091–93. Print.Renault, Marion. Decades after It Crashed, Ostrich Industry Poised to Take Off as Demand Grows. Chicago Tribune September 25. 2016. Print.Shanawany, M. M. Recent Developments in Ostrich Farming. World Animal Review 83.2 (1995). Print.Stein, Sarah Abrevaya. Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008. Print.