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 possible process.

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 one, exactly, and what are some of its examples? What features and advantages does it present? We are going to solve all these questions in this article, and, in addition, we will know what other two learning styles exist.

• Related article: "The 9 main learning models, and their application"

The process of learning

Although most people can learn in different ways depending on the context, not all of us learn in the same way, and besides, many people learn better in one way or another.

If we extrapolate this issue to the field of intellectual disability, for example, even more specifications emerge, since many of these children learn better from a specific way (for example through sight, touch...), showing difficulties in learning through other areas (although each case should be analyzed separately). concrete).

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 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 by through words (reading), others through experiences... what happens to people who learn better by reading? view?

First of all, it's 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 mothers and fathers, is prepare and/or adapt material to enhance visual learning. But what exactly is this? Let's see it.

Visual learning: what is it?

Visual learning is a type of learning that is made 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 or students to 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 is that many students who have this more developed sense in their way of processing concepts, or simply, that they are better at studying by diagrams/images, or that they have a good visual memory, can benefit to a greater extent from this type of learning.

1. overall 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 a greater internalization of information.

3. visual memory

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 also, allows working with children with difficulties in other areas but with a good visual memory (for example children with certain intellectual disabilities).

• You may be interested in: "The 3 types of sensory memory: iconic, echoic and haptic"

examples

We are going to see some examples of the most used elements or strategies to promote a type of visual learning (although there are more).

1. Conceptual maps

concept maps involve a highly visual organization of information; They allow, in relation to some theme, 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. Time lines

Timelines are another example of a technique used in visual learning; is about Linear schemes that allow different events or elements to be located along a chain or timeline, As its name indicates. They are ideal for working with 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 you to relate different concepts through arrows, drawings, "drawers"... They offer very global information in relation to some topic.

How do we know that we learn best visually?

As we have seen at the beginning of the article, each person learns better through a certain sense (although there will also be people who learn the same way 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:

• You are a very observant person.
• You have a special ability to remember images (and videos).
• You have a lot of imagination and generate vivid images in your mind.
• You have a good visual memory.
• Images and diagrams are good for you to study and memorize.
• You have difficulty remembering or explaining verbal information.
• You think more in pictures than words.

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 recall of information offered orally/auditly (for example through the explanations of the teacher).

That is, they are based, above all, on the sense of hearing, to learn. This 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 “hands-on” type of learning, compared to visual learning or auditory.

It is a "slower" style, compared to the latter two, but it generates deeper learning, since emotions are often involved in it.