Visual Learning: What It Is, And Ways To Enhance It
People learn throughout their lives, and in a thousand ways. We can learn through words, images, experiences, people… Thus, there are many types and styles of learning, depending on their characteristics and the stimuli that make this process possible.
Generally, each person has a learning style with which they learn more easily. Today we are going to talk about a very specific type of learning: visual learning But how do we know that “our” learning style is visual? What is this, exactly, and what are some of its examples? What features and advantages does it present? We are going to resolve all these questions in this article, and, in addition, we will learn what two other learning styles exist.
Although most people can learn in different ways depending on the context, Not everyone learns the same way, and many people learn better in one way or another
If we also extrapolate this question to the field of intellectual disability, for example, even more specifications arise, since many of these children learn better in a specific way (for example through sight, touch…), showing difficulties in learning through other areas (although each case should be analyzed specifically).
What happens when we learn better through one sense than another? In these cases, it would be ideal to maximize this specific type of learning, without forgetting, of course, the other senses. Being able to identify what is our best way of learning will allow us to maximize our learning.
There are people who learn better through the sense of hearing (for example by listening to the teacher’s explanations, others through words (reading), others through experiences… what happens to people who learn better? for the view?
First of all, it is good to know, to take advantage of it; Once known, our task as teachers, educational psychologists or other professionals in the sector, and even as parents, is prepare and/or adapt material to enhance visual learning But what exactly does this consist of? Let’s see it.
Visual learning: what is it?
Visual learning is a type of learning that is done from visual stimuli ; This includes everything from images to pictograms, graphic organizers, concept maps, colors… The objective of this type of learning, which is also a teaching method, is to help students consolidate a series of ideas. through the sense of sight.
It is, therefore, a method focused on vision (and, at the same time, on visual memory).
Advantages and features
The advantages of visual learning are that many students who have this sense more developed in their way of processing concepts or simply, that they are better at studying through diagrams/images, or that they have a good visual memory, they can benefit to a greater extent from this type of learning.
1. Global information
On the other hand, it is a teaching method that allows information to be identified much more quickly and globally. The use of colors, for example, can increase its effectiveness.
2. Relationships between concepts
Another advantage of visual learning is that allows you to visualize patterns and relationships between concepts and/or ideas more quickly, through schemes or organizers, for example. All this facilitates greater internalization of the information.
Visual learning, as we have seen, is ideal for working with children or adults with a good visual memory. It is a type of learning that enhances this type of memory, and that also, allows you to work with children with difficulties in other areas but with good visual memory (for example children with certain intellectual disabilities).
Examples
Let’s see some examples of the elements or strategies most used to enhance a type of visual learning (although there are more).
1. Concept maps
Concept maps involve a very visual organization of information ; They allow, in relation to some topic, to compare ideas, organize concepts…
So that it is understood a little better; These are schemes where the information is grouped by concepts or categories in “drawers”, and where these “drawers” are related to each other through arrows, for example.
2. Timelines
Timelines are another example of a technique used in visual learning; is about linear schemes that allow different events or elements to be placed along a chain or timeline, As its name indicates. They are ideal for working on historical periods, for example.
3. Cause-effect diagrams
Cause-effect diagrams, also a visual learning technique, are representations of different elements that explain the origin of some situation or effect
4. Idea maps
Idea maps allow different concepts to be related through arrows, drawings, “drawers”, etc. They offer very global information in relation to a topic.
How do we know that we learn best visually?
As we saw at the beginning of the article, each person learns better through a certain sense (although there will also be people who learn the same with one sense or another).
But how do we know if our learning style is visual? Here you will find a series of guidelines that will allow you to determine, if it is, that your learning style is visual:
Other learning styles: auditory and kinesthetic
Beyond the visual learning style, there are other learning styles. Broadly speaking, and in a generic way, we find two more: auditory learning and kinesthetic learning.
1. Auditory learning
People with an auditory learning style are characterized by better remembering information offered orally/auditorily (for example through the teacher’s explanations).
That is, they rely, above all, on the sense of hearing to learn. It is an ideal style for learning languages and music.
2. Kinesthetic learning
The kinesthetic learning style, for its part, is characterized by being based on sensations and movements People with this style learn better through the body, movement, caresses, touch… it is a more experiential and “practical” type of learning, if we compare it with visual or auditory learning.
It is a “slower” style, compared to the last two, but it generates deeper learning, since emotions are often involved in it.
