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Inspiration/Kidspiration

Learning to think. Learning to learn. These are the essential skills for student success. Research in both educational theory and cognitive psychology tells us that visual learning is among the very best methods for teaching students of all ages how to think, and how to learn.

What is visual learning?

Visual learning techniques - graphical ways of working with ideas and presenting information - teach students to clarify their thinking, and to process, organize and prioritize new information. Visual diagrams reveal patterns, interrelationships and interdependencies. They also stimulate creative thinking.

Visual learning techniques help students:

• Clarify thinking. Students see how ideas are connected and realize how information can be grouped or organized. With visual learning, new concepts are more thoroughly and easily understood.
• Reinforce understanding. Students recreate, in their own words, what they've learned. This helps them absorb and internalize new information, giving them ownership of their ideas.
• Integrate new knowledge. Diagrams updated throughout a lesson prompt students to build upon prior knowledge and internalize new information. By reviewing diagrams created previously, students see how facts and ideas fit together.
• Identify misconceptions. Just as a concept map or web shows what students know, misdirected links or wrong connections reveal what they don't understand.

Visual learning supports multiple learning styles effectively.  Kidspiration® and Inspiration® apply the ease of technology to visual learning, making it intuitive, engaging and rewarding for students to explore their own ideas and integrate new information.

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Inspiration® strengthens critical thinking, comprehension, and writing across the curriculum, in language arts, science, social studies and anytime your students need to structure research or other thought processes.

Inspiration®'s integrated diagramming and outlining environments work together to help students comprehend concepts and information. Educators use Inspiration® to customize instruction, achieve standards, assess student progress, and energize learning.

Use Inspiration® across the curriculum for:

• Brainstorming
• Webbing
• Diagramming
• Planning
• Critical thinking
• Concept mapping
• Organizing
• Outlining

Sample diagram with corresponding outline:

With a simple mouse click, students can transform their diagrams into traditional, hierarchical outlines.  These outlines can easily be exported to a word-processing program so students can continue to expand their work into a research paper.

View an interactive demo of Inspiration® (Quick Tour).

FAQ, tutorial and download FREE trial version of product at Inspiration site.

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Kidspiration® helps students K-5 see, organize, and develop their great ideas. Using the proven principles of visual learning, young readers and writers build confidence in organizing information, understanding concepts, and expressing their thoughts.

K-5 students use Kidspiration® to:

• Brainstorm ideas with pictures and words
• Organize and categorize information visually
• Create stories and descriptions using engaging visual tools
• Explore new ideas with thought webs and visual mapping

Sample map:

View an interactive demo (Quick Tour) of Kidspiration®.

FAQ, tutorial and download FREE trial version of product at Kidspiration site.

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Each edition of this newsletter showcases an educator or two on how they're using Inspiration® and Kidspiration® in their classrooms. You'll receive lots of great product ideas, tips & tricks, and find out what's new at Inspiration Software.  View past issues or sign up to receive Flashes through your e-mail at Inspiration website.

Learning Resources

Inspiration Tutorial - a 37 page .pdf document that leads you through the steps to learn the basics of using Inspiration. 

Nancy Stucker (Main Street School, Exeter) recommends Univ. of Northern Iowa's online course.  It is two semester hours graduate credit (@$280 each).

Take a look at some websites that contain Kidspiration and Inspiration lesson plan ideas, downloadable templates and resources for further exploration.

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