Visual Thinking and Student Learning

Visual thinking is a highly supported educational practice that teachers feel is the best way for student learning. Researches have shown that people are able to remember things better when it is visually present. Visual thinking is a practice widely used in advertising that companies use today. You can see the brand logos everywhere as they create a space inside our heads. Images can create a better memory than words. It is a norm in the 21st century to use visuals for global communication.

How does it help in student learning?

The education system is still not the most comfortable with the idea of visual thinking. It is not explored enough in education to be considered the primary resource for teaching. However, the teachers today are attempting practices of visual learning alongside traditional schooling methods. These exercises are still not the most effective as it requires high artistic skills to draw images that can express yourself. That is why the students still rely on reading skills to study their subjects and writing and oral skills to communicate what they have learned.

Visual representations can help students develop visual analytical skills similar to those they develop when reading any instructions. But, te studies show that irrespective of age, visual learning can provide a better and in-depth understanding of the concepts such as how an engine works. The students need to learn how they can develop and use their visual analytical skills. Research had shown the development of analytical skills among students when they were given visual learning platforms instead of traditional learning methods.

Visual information has been found to process quicker among learners as compared to text. With a better understanding of the subject through visuals, the students were able to write more about it using analytic skills.

Students can have multiple sources of interactions with multiple representations of concepts, which makes learning more dynamic. Visual thinking is an important process that can provide better learning of complex systems like machines, biology, and anything that can be drawn. It can covey more information to the students than the written texts.

Visual learning is not just meant for learning science. It can be a tool that any subject teacher can implement in their studies. With creative ways, visual learning can become the primary method in several subjects. The major aim of visual thinking today is focused majorly on making science interesting with the help of diagrams, games, simulations, concept maps, augmented reality, etc. However, it is a concept that is getting the highlight in subjects such as history, literature, and computer education as well.

As a teacher, one should today support visual thinking and learning for the students. With the help of interactive videos, diagrams, models, and simulations, the learning experience of students can become advanced and easier.