The purpose of this study is to help junior high students improve their academic achievements by elevating their learning capabilities through the usage of a simple but effective learning tool--Mind Map. In order for a person to learn effectively , he or she has to be equipped with healthy learning psychology as well as the mastery of sound learning methods. This study focuses on the discussion of the latter. Subjects of this study are students in Grades 7 to 9. These junior high students are the group most often found suffering from consistent achievement loss after their transition from elementary school to junior high school. In Macao ，statistics provided by the DSEJ of Macau show that the retention rate of junior high students in 1998 was 13%. Educators often share the same viewpoint that junior high students are the ones they find most difficult to teach. One of the reasons accounting for this is that the students are usually at their adolescence when they are undergoing through great biological changes while their psychological counterparts may not be able to adjust synchronically to them. In addition， intermediate education is ， in many ways * tremendously different from primary education. Firstly , the constituent parts of the curricula of intermediate education are often much more various than those of the elementary level ， and the components of the curricula are usually more specialized according to the characteristics of the knowledge system of individual subject. Secondly , junior high students are mostly at the developmental stage where their cognitive functioning starts to change from intuitive or concrete thinking to abstract logical thinking. The experiment in this study was conducted in two junior high schools. Students in Grades 7 to 9 were invited to join a mind map based-learning counseling course known as “Mind Map Training Course." In both schools · the participants were randomly divided into the experimental group and the controlled group ， each with a total of 15 students. The former received the course. The effectiveness of the course was evaluated by comparing the final averages of the academic achievements acquired by the participants. Moreover , correlation between the participants' frequency of applying mind map to the leaming of different subjects during the training period and their final average increase was also explored so as to verify the effect of mind map in practical learning. The mind map training course dealt with 5 essential skills which were related to selecting key words , making associations ， taking notes ， reading and writing. Every skill was evaluated by means of home assignments to verify the degree of mastery acquired by the participants. Findings of the study revealed that the final averages of the academicachievements of the experimental groups were remarkably better than those of the controlled groups. In one of the schools ， participants who had better mastery of the essential skills related to selecting key words ， associations ， taking notes and reading obtained higher final averages than their colleagues. Similarly , better final averages were observed in those with better skills in key words ，associations and taking notes in the other school. In addition ， the more frequent the participants applied mind map to the learning of other subjects , the greater the improvement in the their final results was recorded. Finally, gender difference had not significant influence on the final average results of the participants in both groups before or after the course. The findings indicated that the mastery and usage of a learning tool helped junior high students . both boys or girls ， increase their academic achievements. With the evidence obtained in this research . the author suggests that this mind map based-counseling course should be promoted as an everyday learning tool among junior high students so as to raise their learning efficiency while relieving their leaming stress. Thus ， the high retention rate of junior high students can be reduced.

本論文的研究目的是希望使用一種既簡單又有效的工具(思維導圆Mind Map)來提高初中學生之學習能力，從而改善學習成績。科學的學習方法就是養成健康的學習心理和掌握正確的學習方法。本文主要在後者之討論與研究。 本文的研究對象爲初中學生，因為不少學生從小學升到初中，學習成績並不如意。根據澳門教育局提供的學校升留級率統計資料，1998年度，初中學生之留班率達到13%。在不少教育工作者的訪談中也認同初中學生是最難教的一個階段。原因是一方面在這時期的學生生理上有著顯著的變化，心理上又未能完全適應過來。另一方面，小學和初中的確存在著很多明顯的不同之處。 1.初中學習的課程類別比小學大幅度增加，而課程按各科專門知識系統高度抽象概括. 2.初中學習思維從直觀行為思維、具體形象思維發展到抽象邏輯思維。 本研究是以澳門兩所中學之初中生作對象，以自由報名參加「開發大腦潛能訓練班」，分別在兩所學校的報名學生中隨機抽樣15名學生正式參加課程作實驗組，15名學生爲控制組。比較兩組學生在開設課程前及課程後之各科總平均成績。評量本研究所設計之思維導圖課程之成效。另外，也研究實驗組中學生使用思維導圆在其他學科的學習情況與其實驗後之總平均成績之相關性，用以檢驗思維導圖在實際學習上之效用性。 思維導圖課程分別以關鍵字、聯想、筆記、閱讀及寫作等五個核心技巧單元組成，並分別以作業形式評量學生所掌握的程度。根據研究結果顯示，在兩所不同的學校中(一)實驗組在課程後總平均成績，顯著優於控制組，(二)在課程中掌握思維導圖各單元技巧較佳的學生，在其中一所學校中，除了閱讀技巧外，其餘各項與總平均成績之進步差距，顯著優於同組的其他學生。而另一所學校中也除了閱讀及寫作技巧各，其餘各項與總本均成績之進步差距，顯著優於同組的其他學生。(三)實驗組學生使用思維導圓於其他學科的學習的次數，與其總平均成績之進步差距也成顯著正相關。(四)實驗組與控制組中的男女生在實驗前後之總平均成績沒有顯著性的差異。因此，從實驗結果可推斷出初中學生若能掌握及應用良好的學習工具，對其學業成績有一定程度的幫助。而思維導圖這套工具對男女學生也同樣適合。 基於上述發現，研究者建議能在學校推廣有關思維導圖課程，教導學生如何在日常的學習使用思維導圖，以提高學習效能，減輕學習之壓力。相信學生掌握思維導圆這學習工具，可能是對解決學生留班率偏高的其中一種有效的方法。