It is your learning style that determines how well you absorb and retain new information. Everybody learns differently. There are others who prefer reading.
Some students are better at learning by doing, while others prefer to hear a lesson. Visual learners make up about 65 percent of the population, so if you are one of them, you’re in luck.
Visual learners are those who learn best through pictures, images, and other visual media. However, it can be a challenge for visual learners to do well on tests that do not include diagrams or other types of visuals.
Fortunately, there are many things you can do to become a better visual learner.
In this article, you will find out what a visual learner is. You’ll also learn tips on how to become a better visual learner and how to incorporate it into your daily life if you are one.
What is a Visual Learner?
A visual learner is a person who learns more efficiently by means of visual aids such as charts, graphs, and pictures. These people can typically remember images better and may rely more heavily on pictures and images to get their point across.
Although many people think of themselves as visual learners, not all of them are. There is a lot of scientific research which says that visual learners learn faster and better than auditory and kinesthetic learners. So it is important to incorporate visual learning into the instructional design.
A word of warning for teachers: just because someone is a visual learner doesn’t mean that they can’t read text or study based on text. It just means that they process information best when it is shown in a visual format.
Tips to Become a Better Visual Learner
1. Sit at the front of the classroom
If you are a visual learner, the first thing that you will want to do is sit at the front of the class. This will help you listen more carefully and learn more effectively by visualizing what is happening around you.
As a visual learner, you have a natural ability to understand the material by seeing it. Consider sitting at the front of the class so you can easily see the teacher and the blackboard. Also, you can take notes in the margins about important things, such as actions to take.
2. Improve memory by creating strong images in your head
By using visualization techniques, a person can remember and understand concepts better. Visual learners think in pictures. This is why visual learners often turn to fantasy writing in English class. As a visual learner, your brain is wired to be able to form images faster than others.
So, more often than not, you will try to visualize things instead of just listening to them. When you create a mental image of something, you are able to remember it better. A good way to remember something you’ve heard is to try to visualize it.
Think about what the person who gave you the information looked like. If it was a professor, think about what she was wearing. If you are trying to recall what someone told you at a meeting, think about where they were standing or sitting.
3. Learning new words is easier with flashcards
The key to learning new words is repetition. Repetition can be monotonous and boring, though. To make learning easier, use flashcards for memorization.
Flashcards are a type of study tool used to help you memorize new words and definitions. Being able to define basic learning terms is an important communication skill for students, teachers, and parents.
Each card has a word on one side with the definition on the other. Flashcards can be made as unique as you want them to be by using your own photos as cards or even creating your own flashcard app online. You can easily use them anywhere or when you have a few minutes to spare.
4. Visualize what you hear or read
You may not know, but you can comprehend what you read or listen to up to 60,000 times faster if you picture it in your mind. It’s true. If you are a visual learner, it can be very helpful to visualize what someone is saying as they talk.
When trying to learn something new or memorize something you have heard or read, our minds strongly suggest that we try to visualize what is written. Visualization is a great memory technique that allows you to easily recall information, such as words, concepts, or facts.
Visualization can help you make use of any experience that you have stored in your memory. It can help you remember the look and details of what you have held in your mind’s eye, which may be an image, a video clip, or even a series of events.
5. Use post-it notes and highlighters
As a visual learner, you are going to want to take advantage of your visual learning style. Use highlighters, post-it notes, and even create graphs or charts to help you organize your day or your work.
This is the perfect opportunity to break out those bright-colored pens that you don’t use on a regular basis.
A visual learner can use post-it notes and highlighters to better understand a concept. Highlighting is a great strategy to understand the important things in a chapter. It makes it easier to read the chapter again if you have to.
Post-it notes are a great way to summarize a chapter. You can highlight key parts of the chapter and write notes on the post-it note. This is an easy way to study the chapter.
6. Study in groups
Visual learning is all about hands-on experience. It is very important that visual learners surround themselves with other learners.
Visual learners need multiple ways to process and understand the material. If a student is a visual learner and studies in groups, then he/she does not have to rely on one strategy for learning.
The student can have someone else explain the material in a different way, review material with others, use note cards, and basically try out a number of different ways to review material.
This can help the visual learner understand the material more easily, retain the information, and easily pass an exam.
Visual learners should study in groups because they will be able to interpret their classmates’ notes better, this way they can learn more at one time and in a shorter period of time.
7. Watch documentaries
As a visual learner, you learn best through seeing and hearing about knowledge. You often feel overwhelmed by the amount of information you need to process on a daily basis.
One of the best ways to increase your knowledge of something is through documentaries. A documentary is a film that focuses on a subject and provides the audience with new and interesting facts about it.
Documentaries can cover any topic that is available in an audio or visual format, from geography and history to technology, art, and science.
Documentary films are educational films that show events or ideas from a historical perspective. Besides, they are often used for storytelling, which is why so many storytellers use them as references for their work.
8. You can color-code things
If you are a visual learner, then color-coding things to remember is a great resource for you. The idea of color coding things is to use visuals to make all the information in your brain easier to retrieve and thus better retain.
You can color-code your notes, your calendar, your planner, or even the different documents on your computer to help you remember all the information you need to remember. For example, you can color-code meetings as red, phone calls as green, and so on.
All you have to do is label your information, whether it is in a meeting or a document, and that way, you will always be able to find it easily.
9. Visual learning teachers should show, not just tell
The best way to teach visual learners is to explain things to them with pictures, graphs, and videos. This way, they’ll be able to retain the information easily.
Another reason why visual learners should be shown, not just told, is that hearing is a passive process. It is less engaging than seeing, even if it is paired with reading.
People who are visual learners are more likely to retain information that is reinforced through their other senses. Showing them through a video, for example, would make the information more memorable for them than just reading it in a book or over the internet.
Visual learners are often more creative than others. They like to solve problems through drawing, sketching, or writing. So, if we teach them this way, we’ll be able to cultivate their creativity.
10. Use mnemonic devices for learning harder concepts
Visual learners often have a difficult time remembering things. They may see something or read something, but unless the material can be visualized, it will be difficult for them to learn it. One way to help visual learners learn something is to provide them with a mnemonic device.
Mnemonics are ways that allow someone to remember something without having to be taught or to see the information repeatedly.
Instead of remembering, for example, a list of names and what they mean, you can use a mnemonic device to remember the names. Mnemonic devices have been used by students for centuries because they are so effective.
Things such as song lyrics are mnemonic devices because they are lines of rhyme that help someone remember something. The song “The 12 Days of Christmas” is a great example of a mnemonic device. Each line in the song can be related to the twelve days of Christmas.
11. Study without distractions
It’s easy to get distracted while studying. Study without distractions. This can be difficult in today’s age, but if you find yourself easily distracted when studying, then it may help to turn your phone off, shut your computer down, and sit in a quiet environment.
FAQs
How do you identify a visual learner?
The visual learning style means your child learns best when information is presented in a picture, map, graph, or diagram format. If your child understands concepts better with images and pictures, he or she may have a strong visual learning style.
The easiest way to determine if your child is a visual learner is to monitor how they react to new information. If they study better by themselves and immerse themselves in pictures and diagrams, they may learn best this way.
Why should you care if your student is a visual learner?
As a parent or counselor, if your kid is a visual learner, it is important to know because it will help you make a plan to teach him/her.
Visual learners require a specific type of instruction that appeals to their learning style. Visual learners tend to be very creative and excel at art, design, music, and the performing arts.
As a visual learner, the child learns better in an environment with some visual stimuli. By creating this kind of environment in the classroom, the child can concentrate better and can enjoy the learning process.
A visual learner can get the information faster and easier, by taking in all the visual information.
Final Thoughts
I don’t think that someone who needs to rely on visual aids is any less intelligent than a non-visual learner. I do, however, believe that a lot of different learning styles exist and not everyone learns the same way.
It would be great if schools were able to provide the environment for each type of learner so they could get all their bases covered.
Overall, I think it’s great to cover the topic because too many people label learners as lazy or slow learners when in reality they might just have different learning styles.
As you may already know, there are other types of learners. For more information, read the article on the types of learning. By doing so, teachers and parents can get the best out of learners.
Thanks for reading.