Understanding Visual Learning and Its Benefits

What is Visual learning?
According to wikipedia.org

Visual learning is a style in which a learner utilizes graphs, charts, maps and diagrams.
It is one of the three basic types of learning ... kinesthetic learning and auditory learning.

Visual learning can be referred as a way of learning in which information is associated with images. This learning style requires that learners first see what they are expected to know. People with a visual learning style are often referred to as visual-spatial learners .
Visual learning employ the use graphical ways of working with ideas and presenting information. Visual learning is among the very best techniques for teaching students of all ages how critical think and how to learn effectively as revealed by research in educational theory and cognitive psychology.

Research also indicates that more 40% of students are visual learners, preferring to be taught through video, pictures, diagrams, flow charts, timelines, films, and demonstrations and majority of students in a regular classroom need to see information in form of visual in order to learn and understand it. Some common visual learning strategies include creating graphic organizers, diagramming, mind mapping, outlining, videos etc

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Benefits of visual learning to students?

Visual learning can aid students in clarifying their thought
It enable students see how ideas are connected and interwoven, also make them realize how information can be grouped and organized. With visual learning, new concepts are simplified, made more thoroughly and easily understood when they are linked to previous knowledge.

With visual learning students can organize and analyze information without much stress
Learners can use diagrams and plots to display large amounts of information in simplified form, that are easy to understand and help reveal relationships and patterns.

Visual learning can helps students to easily integrate new knowledge
Research had made known that students better remember information when it is represented and learned both visually and verbally.

Visual learning aid students think critically
Linked verbal and visual information helps students make connections, understand relationships and recall related details.

** Visual learning can improve learning outcomes and benefits**
Due to the inconsistency between teachers’ teaching styles and students’ learning styles as accounted for the many under-performing students. There is every reason to believe that large proportion of students would learn better from visual learning. An improved balance between verbal and visual techniques would produce significantly improved learning outcomes and benefits to students all over the globe

Scientifical research support the use of visual learning techniques for improving student learning and performance in reading comprehension, thinking and learning skills such as organizing and communicating ideas, seeing patterns and relationships, and categorizing ideas and retention.

There is great truth to the saying that one picture equals a thousand words.

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Visual learning should integrate in all our schools especially schools in Africa it will aid and facilitate the overall learning process an help students to get the best grades. The reason is that students remember quickly in pictures, hence they develop a photographic memory. When it comes test/examination time, the material they have learn will be converted into images in their mind, and those images are very easy to recall and turn into the words need in the test/examination.

In the business environment visual learning is also important to train employees and set target company goals. Companies especially CEO's can uses visual to enable them easily see the long term goals and use many smaller details to plan out the whole for a company.