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Home > Archive > For teachers > Why SpicyNodes? > Middle School
SpicyNodes offers students the chance to create multi-linear works, allowing them to brainstorm the multiple effects a single cause may have. However, students can also take their node maps even further as they develop their critical thinking skills.
The node form is an intuitive outlet for students to report the complexities of events, facts, and actions that can lack clear, causal relationships. Most children understand simple sets of cause and effect. Sixty seconds make a minute, and sixty minutes create an hour. The world, however, is not always so easy to understand. Tornadoes are a collection of several initially unrelated parts. Governments serve various roles for the people. Boycotts begin with separate sets of action steps.
Your students will thrive when asked to insert nonlinear knowledge into SpicyNodes. Node maps challenge students to showcase how parts contribute to the whole of their topic. As their knowledge base develops, their critical thinking skills will grow as well. Check out these lesson plans for more ways to integrate SpicyNodes into your middle school curriculum
Recommended Lessons
L1: Weather (Science
L2: Writing & Poetry (English)
L3: Activate (Social Science)
