Children learn in their distinctive styles. Educators need to understand the learning style and provide instructional support accordingly. Visual, auditory, read/write, kinesthetic – these are some of the learning styles.[1] Learners may not be adopting one of the styles solely but a combination of these, or use a multisensory approach. One of our posts on Youtube Channels for Grammar hints at the relevance of using visual learning tools in the current scheme of things.
Depending upon the types of learning styles, the students need to have a repertoire of resources in hand. In this post, I will talk about visual learning and the relevant websites and apps that support the needs of learners who are comfortable with this style.
Visual learner says ‘I learn by seeing‘
Show me and I will remember it! This seems to be the mantra of acquiring knowledge for visual learners. The visual learning method comprises the use of books with rich imagery, charts, flowcharts, diagrams, videos, etc. The keyword is ‘Show’ for imparting visual learning. Often, you come across people who find it difficult to keep with the verbal instructions meted out to them. They rather ask, ‘show me how it is done, or ‘show me where it is.’ They can recall the learning quite effortlessly when they acquire information by seeing the process, location, model, etc.
Here are a few characteristic signs of a visual learner:
- Quite interested in Lego, model-making and solving puzzles
- Recalls a movie scene as it is even if watched just once
- Remembers a location of a place perfectly once visited
- Uses lots of flowcharts to brainstorm ideas
- Loves reading books with illustrations and rich imagery
- Interested in computer-aided learning methods
- Usually good spellers
To make learning easier for such types of learners, the digitally transformed education sector has proved to be effective. The technological revolution in Education has led to the introduction of websites and apps that complement visual learning styles. A few of such resources are annotated here.
Websites and apps for visual learners
1. Lucid: Learn Visually
Lucid is for visual learners that can acquire knowledge more easily by seeing. A lot of visually stimulating study materials are included in this app. With visuals at the core of the product, the app provides engaging material to students. Learners who want to do courses in the field of psychology, technology, health, history, finance, and even leadership can benefit from this educational support.
You may find a lot of insights that walk the learners through several concepts elaborated through visual explanations. Apart from insights, daily quizzes are offered to students to check their proficiency levels. It is also useful for doing professional courses on psychology, UX designing, etc. Additional learning support comes in the form of visual guides to some of the bestselling books, such as Atomic Habits by James Clear, The Beginner’s Guide to Stock Market by Matthew Kratter, etc. In essence, this app can provide a wholesome resource for learners inclined to the visual style of acquiring knowledge.
App Link: App Store
2. Mindly (Mind Mapping)
Visual learners learn through pictures, flowcharts, and diagrams. They are used to making flowcharts for organizing their thoughts. Mindly offers handy support for such learners to prepare for various tasks. They can use it for structuring their thoughts. A few of the striking features of this app are – a color scheme for various elements, a visual clipboard, notes or icons to highlight elements, etc.
Mindly helps achieve various objectives at work. The users can employ it to plan a project or prepare a speech. Idea collection, brainstorming, summarizing, and outlining a meeting plan are some of the functions one can perform on this app. It serves the visual learners’ need of storing and processing information in the format they relate to the best.
App Link: Playstore | App Store
3. Picmonic
Picmonic is an app that focuses on the learning needs of K12 grade students and those interested in the study of medicines. The name is coined after combining pictures and mnemonics. Thus, it is a collection of rich imagery and various mnemonics that can simplify memorizing of complex terms peculiar to the medical field.
The app allows learning more in less time. The users’ ability to retain memory reportedly increases three times by leveraging the pluses of this app. Quizzes are offered in a spaced repetition manner to provide a soft alternative to the activity of mugging up answers. The app is designed keeping several pre-medical, medical, and paramedical courses in mind. Overall, it eases studying medicine and helps in exam preparation too.
App Link: App Store | Playstore
4. Drops: for Language Learning
Take language learning to the next level of ease and fun with Drops. This app claims to have removed the word ‘boring’ from the task of learning vocabulary and is absolutely right too! A huge collection of various international languages is included in this app. The visual learners grasp the meaning through word-picture association. Thus, you can visualize the meaning as well as use and gain better retention of the words learned.
Not only the languages but the dialects too can be learned with this language learning app for visual learners. It teaches languages in a gamified manner, by giving challenges to beat to the learners. Users may not require more than 5 minutes a day to practice the words and enrich their vocabulary further. There are alphabet courses also available for language beginners who want to master Chinese, Japanese, German, etc.
App Link: App Store | Playstore
5. BrainPOP
BrainPOP helps conquer all learning challenges by providing an engaging way of acquiring skills. Whether you want to brush up on your reading, writing, math, general awareness, or take the topics as a beginner, this website offers reliable support. Transform the screen time into a learning hour by exploring and doing activities related to the subjects of your choice.
Designed for Grades K-3 to 8+, this website is enriched with lessons, quizzes, and tons of tips and tools that can prepare kids holistically. From basic language skills to gaining knowledge of demand-supply, ecosystem, mindfulness, and others, the site acts as the one-stop learning destination for homeschoolers as well as school kids.
6. Visuwords
‘Wish there was a visual dictionary to help me become a spelling nerd!’ If you feel stuck with the limited resources for building vocabulary using visual means, Visuwords helps you have the one. This happening website offers a visual dictionary where the hints are provided through pictures. By presenting ideas around any word in a color-coded manner, and using link diagrams, the learners visualize the words and ingrain their meaning, usage as well as related phrases.
It is a unique concept built for teaching words in a way that makes sense to visual learners. Since learning English requires a lot of indoctrination, the learners can overcome the confusion and learn the words as meant to be. It offers the best answer to all questions that may pop a visualizer’s mind and helps to keep the focus on learning instead of letting it meander aimlessly.
7. TedEd
A visual learner sees some content such as a video or a movie and is most likely to remember all its events. That quality can be put to use by providing them videos on the topics they feel inclined to. TedEd offers the convenience of accessing video lessons by choosing the subject as well as age. It is a storehouse of information and walks the users through interactive sessions that ensure that learning is much more elaborate and sustainable.
Learners can create their own video lessons, interact with others to discuss the topic, or talk about experiences. This serves the need for community learning and breaks the monotony of reading from books and writing Q&As.
Visual learning supports available at websites and apps
How do websites and apps make the feat easier for visual learners? It is through several engaging features that may strengthen the corpus callosum and make it more helpful in integrating inputs to decode the underlying information[2]. You may find features, such as:
- Infographics
- Videos
- Memes
- Mnemonics
- Pictures and illustrative explanations
- Interactive lessons
- Flowcharts and flow-chart making support, and lots.
These features supplement the auditory and sequential learning tools that a visual learner may find insufficient. While suggesting the tool, it is advisable to decode the learning style correctly first. That helps pick the options that bring in favorable outcomes.
Conclusion
The learning styles of children are not the same; hence the instructional methods need molding. Education needs to be more learning-oriented and should be accommodating to a wider audience. Websites and apps help bridge the gap between the learners’ needs and the educational tools’ features. While the screen time, the engagement ability, and the outcomes continue to be the question of debate, these tools prove to be the stepping stone towards a transformed educational space.
References:
- Othman, N., & Amiruddin, M. H. (2010). Different Perspectives of Learning Styles from VARK Model. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 7, 652–660. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.10.088
- Marta Pietrasanta, Laura Restani, Matteo Caleo, “The Corpus Callosum and the Visual Cortex: Plasticity Is a Game for Two”, Neural Plasticity, vol. 2012, Article ID 838672, 10 pages, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/838672
I am Pratiksha Bhatt, Bachelor of Life Science, and Masters in Management Studies. I have done certification courses in early education counseling. I am a writer, a mother of a child with spelling difficulties which drove me to alternative resources of education like manipulatives and participatory activities. My areas of expertise are learning difficulties, alternative learning methods, and activity-based learning.