Dr. David Hyerle, author of Visual Tools and Field Guide to Using Visual ToolsThinking Maps, developed Thinking Maps as a language for learning by visual tools. Thinking Maps help learners to transform information into knowledge.

Thinking Maps are visual teaching tools that foster and encourage lifelong learning. The entire program is grounded in the latest brain research, and is comprised of eight maps, each of which corresponds to a fundamental thinking processes – defining, describing, classifying, comparing/contrasting, sequencing, seeing part-whole relationships, distinguishing cause and effect, and seeing analogies.

Eight fundamental thinking processes:

• Comparing and contrasting
• Causes and effects
• Sequencing and ordering
• Describing
• Classifying and grouping
• Defining
• Seeing analogies