Overlapping Circles
Drawing overlapping circles can help you explore connections among concepts and create a visual cue for remembering them.
THE IDEA
Overlapping Circles
Write related concepts inside overlapping circles, then use the overlaps to explore how the concepts connect. For example, place maintaining law and order, collecting revenue, and running day-to-day administration in separate circles. Consider how revenue supports administration and how administration supports law and order.
Recall the diagram when you need to explain the topics together. The aim is to remember meaningful relationships, rather than just the positions of words on a page.
When to use it
Studying for exams that require integrating multiple topics into a coherent answer.
Brainstorming connections between different business strategies or product features.
Comparing and contrasting theories in academic writing or presentations.
Helping students visualize relationships between concepts in subjects like history or literature.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Memorizing Administrative Rules
Draw overlapping circles for maintaining law and order, collecting revenue, and running day-to-day administration. Explain a connection at each overlap, then try to reconstruct the diagram and its connections from memory.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
How can you use overlapping circles to combine two different subjects you are learning?
What other abstract concepts could you visualize with overlapping circles to deepen your understanding?
Does this technique help you recall the concepts and their relationships better than your usual method? How could you check?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Thinking in Systems and Mental Models Think Like a Super Thinker (Dawson, Marcus P)