Map It · graphic organisers

Graphic organisers that show the thinking.

Learning is learnable. Every way of thinking has a shape, and organising ideas is a skill learners can practise and carry through life. Sort foods into groups on a mind map, or rank them on a Diamond 9. Learners see how the ideas connect, and you can see what they understood.

Plan a Map It lesson free → See every organiser

Pick a thinking move and watch its organiser draw itself. The blue card is the Thinking Framework word for that move.

Free to start: two lessons a month, no card needed. Pro is £75 a year, or £7 a month. Download the free research summary (PDF)

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Mind mapHealthy eating

Name the topic

The skill

Organise it. Remember it. Build on it. Say it.

Organising information is a skill for life, and a key that unlocks learning. In an age of digital information and AI, learners need to understand how we organise ideas in our minds. Once they do, learning becomes more manageable. If you can organise it, you can remember it, build on it and talk it through.

  • Any subjectThe shape belongs to the thinking, not the topic.
  • Any ageThe same Venn diagram works at 6 and at 16. What goes in it grows up.
  • Talk as well as writeThe organiser gives the talk its order, so learners can explain it.
A line drawing of a learner at a table drawing two overlapping circles on a large sheet of paper

A repertoire of nine

One question, one shape.

Each organiser answers one question. Learners meet them one at a time and build a repertoire over the years, until they choose the right shape for themselves.

  • What is it?

    Group it

    Leads to descriptions and reports.

    • Mind mapOne central idea, with the groups of detail branching out.
    • Tree diagramOne topic split into groups, then smaller groups.

  • How is it similar or different?

    Compare it

    Leads to discussions and balanced arguments.

    • Venn diagramTwo things side by side, with what they share in the overlap.
    • Diamond 9Nine ideas ranked against one criterion, best at the top.

  • What happened?

    Sequence it

    Leads to recounts and instructions.

    • TimelineDated events in order along one line.
    • Flow chartThe steps of a process in the order they happen.
    • Cycle diagramA process that repeats, with no start or end.

  • Why did it happen?

    Explain it

    Leads to explanations.

    • Input and outputWhat goes in, what comes out, and the links between.
    • FishboneMany causes on the bones, one effect at the head.

In a lesson

Plan it, teach it, check it.

One Map It step in a lesson on healthy eating, for ages 8 to 9.

  1. 1Plan

    HEALTHY EATING · AGES 8 TO 9 Compare a healthy and a sugary snack ThinkingOrganiserItemsTalk Compare Venn diagram 3 levels Pairs

    You name the thinking. The planner picks the organiser and writes the items at three levels.

  2. 2Teach

    ON THE BOARD What makes a snackhealthy? HealthySugary Carrots Raisins Sweets Say why before you place it.

    The question, the organiser and the rule for pairs go on the board. Learners build it on paper.

  3. 3Check

    TALK IT THROUGH Raisins Raisins go in both. Why both? Fruit, but full of sugar.

    Learners explain their choices to a partner. The finished organiser is the evidence.

A platform that weaves the skill of organised thinking into every part of learning. Teachers find natural places for it, learners build a repertoire over time, and it adapts with age and ability.

Every learner, one organiser

Scaffold it. Or stretch it.

Two or three groups in one room? Everyone works on the same Venn diagram, so the whole class can talk about one picture.

Only the items change: more scaffolding for some, stretch and challenge for others.

The sheet a learner holds never says which set it is.

Healthy and sugary snacks

Every age

Thinking has patterns. Learn them once, use them for life.

The organiser stays the same. The content grows up. Pick a thinking move to see one example for younger learners and one for older.

In real schools

Teachers first.

Understand it on your own terms, then teach it. In a staff session, teachers explore these ideas together and build the organisers they will ask learners to use.

  • A large sheet with three overlapping circles drawn in marker, labelled Ability, Confidence and Behaviour, with small printed cards placed in each part of the diagram
    British International School of Al KhobarA three-circle Venn diagram, sorting cards by ability, confidence and behaviour.
  • A table of teachers leaning in over a large sheet of paper with Thinking Framework cards and notes, one teacher pointing to part of the plan
    Kingsmead College, JohannesburgTeachers round one organiser, deciding where each idea goes.
  • Handwritten notes beside a Learning by Connecting card: Tree Diagram for exploring texts, ranking dangerous characters, Diamond 9, connectives and characters, input and output diagram
    An English department’s notesWhich organiser fits which text: a tree diagram, a Diamond 9, an input and output diagram.
  • Seen from behind, a teacher writes on a large planning sheet with a highlighter, groups of Thinking Framework cards circled in green, blue, red and yellow with the task written beside each group
    Cape TownA teacher maps a whole unit, grouping the thinking step by step.

Where it lives

On paper, on the board, in the staff room.

  • On paper

    Printable organisers

    Every organiser is on the platform. Make a free account to see how each one is laid out.

    Make a free account →

  • In the plan

    The lesson planner

    The platform draws the graphic organiser for your subject and your learners’ age, fills it at three levels and gets it ready to print. Free to start; printing the pack is part of Pro.

    Plan a lesson, free →

  • In the staff room

    Workshops

    Staff choose the organisers for a unit they already teach.

    See the training →

The research

Built on the research, and tested.

Two large reviews link concept maps and graphic organisers to better retention and comprehension, from age 9 to university.

Map It is part of the Thinking Framework, the backbone of Make It Count, the University of East Anglia’s programme for learners aged 11 to 12. Across four schools, the share answering “I can” on the skills statements rose from 52% to 83% (23 learners, 2024/25). A University of Cambridge team (Cambridge Hub) also interviewed educators who use our tools.

Cover of the research summary: Why organising information unlocks learning Why organising information unlocks learningThe research in six pages, free to print. Download the PDF ↓

The Structural Learning platform

It all comes to life on the platform.

Map It is built into the lesson planner. Name the thinking a step needs, and the app picks the organiser, writes the items at three levels and gets the sheets ready to print.

Plan a lesson free

Free to start.

Professional learning

A graphic organiser workshop.

A hands-on session on the Thinking Framework’s graphic organisers. Your staff take a unit they already teach, decide which thinking each lesson asks for, and draw the organisers that go with it. Everyone leaves with sheets they can use next week.

A twilight, a half day or an INSET day, in school or online.

Book a 20-minute conversation with Paul → What a session covers
Teachers at a staff session draw a Venn diagram, a flow chart, a fishbone and a mind map on one large sheet, with sticky notes on each
A Map It staff session.
Teachers' handwritten notes headed Learning through Visuals: comics, dual coding, symbols, live modelling, character and theme cards
From a real staff session: teachers’ notes on how their subject is learned through visuals.

A training programme

One focus for the whole staff.

Each focus stands on its own, so a school can start with the one it needs. Together they make a whole-school programme for primary and secondary, so you can add the others when you are ready.

  1. The Thinking FrameworkThe Thinking Framework

    A shared language for thinking, for every teacher in the room.

    This focus

  2. Map ItMap It

    Graphic organisers that make learners' thinking visible on the page.

    This focus

  3. Say ItSay It

    Oracy: talk routines that give every learner a voice.

    This focus

  4. Build ItBuild It

    Learners build sentences and ideas with Writer's Block, then write them.

    This focus

The next step

Talk it through with Paul.

Twenty minutes on a Google Meet. Tell me what your school is working on this year and I will tell you where graphic organisers would help, and say so if I think you can do it without me. Every request comes to me, and I reply to each one myself.

Book a 20-minute conversation

Pick a time that suits you. Or send three quick questions first, and I reply by email with a time or a better next step.

Book a 20-minute conversation with Paul → Send three questions first
or

Email me directly
paul@structural-learning.com