Visual Learners

I have always considered myself a relatively visual learner. There are times when I can simply remember something based on seeing it and allowing myself to take a somewhat visual snapshot of it. This is particularly true when I am studying something and I am able to color code the information. In fact during one of my classes in undergrad at Naz I was learning about the different developmental psychologists and I remember all of my information for Piaget was purple, because they both started with "p", and Vygotsky I had all the information in green because verde is green in Spanish and both Vygotsky and verde start with "v". This is just one of the basic examples I remember clearly.

With my own experiences I think it is important to find ways for students to see how something is. This way they can create their own mental images that will help them remember the information. Whether the instruction simply uses pictures or images that help the students understand better, or it is more interactive. I have in the past combined the visual aspect of teaching with kinesthetic activity. A challenging difference for students to grasp is the difference between rotation and revolution of the earth, so I had the students take turns acting out the different actions as though they were the earth. This resulted in a drastic change of understanding with the majority of the class being able to explain the difference to me easily and correctly. The students not only were to see the difference but also acting it out themselves allowed them to grasp the information better. 

Also through math it is important for visual learners to be encouraged to use different strategies that may help them understand more. I have always been decently good at math and mastering the strategies I was taught. However, during my undergrad I took a class on how to teach math and it opened my eyes to how little I actually knew and understood. We used a wide variety of manipulatives to help us as teachers to understand the concepts the students are learning. It made even the most challenging topics become easy to understand and explain. I have always like manipulatives because students can use them to visually represent the very abstract concepts that we are teaching them. I feel as though one of the most challenging mathematical concept we are teaching our students is fractions, both in general and computing them. Fractions were always challenging for me although I did have an understanding of them, but once I used manipulatives to explain them and compute them it was like the fog had lifted and suddenly I understood and could easily compute fractions. Unfortunately in most schools I have been in they do not always use manipulatives to teach fractions but rather just paper and pencil and maybe fraction strips they cut from paper. I think if we gave our students manipulatives and had them play around and construct their own meaning of fractions it would more likely for them to become comfortable with fractions and not struggle in the same way they are now. 

Visual learners need to see what they are learning. It should be common sense to provide all students visual aides and representations to help them learn the materials. It has become easier through the use of technology and the internet to find visual representations associated with any topic you are teaching that could help support all our students and promote their learning.