One of the most shocking statistics that I have learned is that 80% of the information we give students is auditory, and around 65% of students are visual learners! This is a disservice to our students. As educators, we need to find other ways to present information to our students in a way that they can receive it. It may be hard to grasp, but our students are living in a digital age where everything is coming at them visually. They are constantly bombarded with visual images, computer screens, televisions, video games, cell phones, social media, etc. And yet, when they come into the classroom they are often left with text.
Visual learners are those who prefer images, charts, graphs, diagrams, graphic organizers, etc. They can SEE the big picture, and benefit from visual stimulation. Visual learners have strong visualization skills and are able to make "movies in their minds" related to the information they are receiving. Teachers are now given the challenge of finding new ways to teach visual learners. Fortunately, there are endless resources for teacher strategies out there! First and foremost, the integration of technology into the classroom is an excellent way to appeal to visual learners. Using technology such as Wordle, Tagxedo, Webspiration, Bubble.us, Xtimeline and Instagrok (just to name a few), is a wonderful way to bring information and classroom content not only to the visual learner, but to all learners in your classroom.
Currently I am co-teaching a unit at a local high school and using Sony Bloggie 4 cams to have them create a project highlighting the impact of U.S. imperialism on native populations. We have been integrating technology and many of these sites throughout the unit. For example, when we used Wordle, we had them pick out the most important IDs from the lecture to build their own Wordle. They then had to explain to their groups what each ID meant and why it was important. Many students who had not done well on the bell quiz excelled at the Wordle activity and demonstrated their knowledge through this activity. Below is a copy of a Wordle on the Spanish-Amerian War as well as a Bubble.us on netiquette for students.
Visual learners are those who prefer images, charts, graphs, diagrams, graphic organizers, etc. They can SEE the big picture, and benefit from visual stimulation. Visual learners have strong visualization skills and are able to make "movies in their minds" related to the information they are receiving. Teachers are now given the challenge of finding new ways to teach visual learners. Fortunately, there are endless resources for teacher strategies out there! First and foremost, the integration of technology into the classroom is an excellent way to appeal to visual learners. Using technology such as Wordle, Tagxedo, Webspiration, Bubble.us, Xtimeline and Instagrok (just to name a few), is a wonderful way to bring information and classroom content not only to the visual learner, but to all learners in your classroom.
Currently I am co-teaching a unit at a local high school and using Sony Bloggie 4 cams to have them create a project highlighting the impact of U.S. imperialism on native populations. We have been integrating technology and many of these sites throughout the unit. For example, when we used Wordle, we had them pick out the most important IDs from the lecture to build their own Wordle. They then had to explain to their groups what each ID meant and why it was important. Many students who had not done well on the bell quiz excelled at the Wordle activity and demonstrated their knowledge through this activity. Below is a copy of a Wordle on the Spanish-Amerian War as well as a Bubble.us on netiquette for students.