Visual Learning

I am a visual learner, and it wasn’t until someone commented offhandedly I need to see things to understand. I had never thought of learning in this way. This comment was empowering and such a turning point for me! It made so much sense to me and why learning certain concepts was so hard to understand and others so easy. I felt this was a failing of the school system to not help the students to discover and understand how we each best learned.

Virtual learners are generally good at making plans, understanding projects, having strong imaginations, and daydreaming a lot. Daydreaming is something I often got in trouble for! It was so much more fun than listening to the teacher!

Like anything in life one shoe does not fit all. For example, some say the strengths of visual learners are also being good at spelling, grammar, comprehending charts and graphs quickly. For me, this was not the case. Even with knowing a student’s learning preference, there will always be individual factors that will not align with the stereotype or expectation of a particular learning style which is what makes us all unique and keeps life interesting.

In direct contrast to the belief in different learning styles, it is the view of Riener (assistant professor of psychology at Randolph-Macon College) and Willingham (Professor of psychology at the University of Virginia). They believe learning styles may inhibit a student from learning. “There is no credible evidence that learning styles exist.” Yet they do believe each student learns differently which is separate from learning styles. (Weimer, 2012).

If the student only accepts their method of learning as Riener and Willingham believe, then the student may not be willing to learn outside of their style. For example, if as a visual learner I’m told something vs. shown something I may give up and not try as the subject is not being presented in my preferred learning style. (Cedar Riener. Daniel Willingham.)

From my own experience, I believe people have natural and preferred ways of learning. I’ve also had to learn outside of my preferred method as I’ve not always been given a choice.

What are your thoughts? Do you know your learning style? Does it prevent you from learning in other ways? If you are interested in knowing what learning style you are take the VARK (visual, aural, read/write, kinesthetic) questionnaire listed here. VARK is a learning style that is used to describe attributes or characters about learning. It’s fast and you don’t have to give any personal information. https://vark-learn.com/the-vark-questionnaire.

References and Citations:

Weimer. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/challenging-the-notion-of-learning-styles/. References: Paschler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., and Bjork, R. (2010). Learning styles: Concepts and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9, 105-119.

Cedar Riener. Daniel Willingham. (2010) “The Myth of Learning Styles”. (September/October), 32-35. Reprinted from The Teaching Professor, 25.1 (2011): 5. researchgate.net/publication/249039450_The_Myth_of_Learning_Styles)