Today I will be focusing on visual learners and ways to help them learn through reading. Before I begin, I want to say that no matter what your learning style is, you can still benefit from learning techniques that appeal to the other learning styles.
Some of the methods for learning, for each learning style, will overlap, and more than one learning style will benefit from them. Even if you are not a visual learner, you can still use the information given here and will hopefully find it helpful.
Visual learners learn well by reading a book, but this isn’t always possible or the best way to learn something. When a visual student is listening to their teacher teaching them new things, there are several things they can do to help them learn better.
Activities for Visual Learners
They can take notes about what they are hearing. This gives them something to look at and read later on. The notes will help them to remember what they have been learning.
Drawing pictures is another option. Visual learners love pictures, and if they do not have any to look at while studying, they can make their own. This could also count as art!
Or a combination of note-taking and picture-drawing could be used, where the students write about the most important parts and draw pictures of specific things they want to remember.
Read-aloud Strategies
I always enjoyed read-aloud time where my mom would read books aloud to my sister and I (I still do, in fact:). But some visual learners have a hard time focusing on a read-aloud book.
One option is for the visual learner to read the book aloud to the others, if they are advanced enough in their reading skills. Another option is for the visual learner to have their own copy of the book, so they can follow along.
Not all books have pictures and other visuals to accompany them. If possible, find some pictures or maps to go along with the book the visual learner is reading.
This will help them to get more from their book as they see what the book is talking about. It will also probably make the book more interesting to them.
For me, I struggle with following spoken directions. I can’t remember more than one or two things I am told to do; my brain can’t keep up with everything I am told. I do much better when the directions for what I am doing, a recipe, craft project, etc., are written out where I can look at them. And if they have pictures, so much the better!
This would be true for other visual learners as well. If they are having a hard time following verbal directions, you might need to write them out. That way they can read them and have them to look at whenever necessary.
Do you have any other tips for visual learners? I’m sure there are lots more good ideas out there, and I would love to hear them! And don’t forget to check out the posts on auditory learners and hands-on learners.
This was really good, Hannah! I thought the tip to write out directions for visual learners so that they can read them was very helpful. This could save a lot of frustration on both sides. Keep up the great work!
Thank you, Bethany! It could help decrease frustration, and it could also decrease the chances of a misunderstanding or something being forgotten.