Visual LearningBruce BarkerChen Ming YuanRhianna UlrichRickey MoggioSuzanne Rose

Current Trends and Issues in Instructional TechnologyIT 6750

Fall 2009University of Colorado Denver

When one considers the term “visual learning,” a vast array of ideas and concepts come to mind.But in reality, what is visual learning? One definition claims that visual learning is a teaching and

learning style in which ideas, concepts, data, and information are associated with images and techniques(Wikipedia.com, 2009). From a psychological standpoint, it is a type of sensory learning controlled by the corticalvisual areas of the brain. Visual thinking and learning utilize graphical ways of working with ideas and presentinginformation. Research in both educational theory and cognitive psychology show that visual learning is among thevery best methods for teaching people of all ages how to think and learn (Inspiration.com, 2009).

To truly understand visual learning, one must see its role in relation to other learningstyles. Traditionally, learning styles have been broken into three categories: visual,

auditory, and kinesthetic. Recent research has even added verbal, logical, social, and solitary to the list(Advanogy.com, 2007). Each learner favors certain learning styles and techniques to varyingdegrees. Identifying and differentiating these styles helps educators andlearners adapt to differences. It also helps learnersincrease their preferences so they can adapt toutilizing and balancing multiple styles. The preferredtechniques for each are in the table to the right.

So how does one identify learning styles? The KolbLearning Style Inventory (KLSI) is an excellent resource.It is designed to align with the principles and standardsof the American Educational Research Association, theAmerican Psychological Association, and the NationalCouncil on Measurement in Education (1999). It analyzescriteria and identifies the personal needs and educationalpreferences of an individual (Kolb & Kolb, 2005).According to the KLSI, learning is best conceived as aprocess of creating knowledge, not in terms of outcomes(Kolb & Kolb, 2005).

This process is molded by learning techniques. Educators must balance how they deliver content to utilize it bestand expand learning preferences. Once a learner knows their needs and preferences, they can begin to stretchbeyond them and develop a more balanced approach to learning (MindTools.com, 2009).

Researchers have, however, given significant focus to visual learning. But what sets visual learning apart from theother styles? It is the most used, the most universal, and in some cases, the most effective. Visual learningtechniques help educators communicate something quickly that people comprehend at a near innate level.

The concept of visual learning is based on the type of visual communication utilized and the visual literacy of anindividual. A typical visual learner has the ability to remember details, including colors and spatial arrangements,because they can visualize them in their mind (Kelly, 2009). “We are not all visual thinkers (though we all have thepotential). However, we are all visual learners” (Armano, 2009).

The presence of visual elements in today’s teaching and learning is increasing through the integration of images andvisual presentations in textbooks, instructional manuals, classroom presentations, and computer interfaces(Kleinman & Dwyer, 1999). Visual signals and queues are the most universal to all countries and cultures. Imagesand spatial relationships are almost innate to audiences.

Definition

Learning Styles

Learning Style Effective Techniques

VisualPictures, images, spatial understanding

AuditorySound and music

KinestheticYour body, hands, sense of touch

VerbalWords, both in speech and writing

LogicalLogic, reasoning, systems

SocialIn groups or with other people

SolitaryAlone and use self-study

Robin Williams explains in the example to the right by stating,“In the list on the right, what do you assume? It appearsthat the last four flowers are somehow different from theothers. You understand this instantly” (2003). Visuallearning techniques enable people to communicate messagesclearly and quickly. An audience can glance at a map or chartand instantly grasp an idea.

Simple techniques such as formatting, spatial relationships,and the size and location of text show relationships thatpeople comprehend at a near innate level. Additionaltechniques include the use of images, pictures, colors, maps,and charts to organize information and communicate withothers (Advanogy.com, 2007).

Now imagine combining these benefits with the benefits ofother learning styles. For example, an auditory learner absorbs information by hearing it through lectures, books ontape, music, etc. By adding a picture, graph, or diagram to this learner’s experience, it enhances and strengthens the

transfer of knowledge. When information is presented in diagrams, sketches, flow charts, and so on, it isdesigned to be understood quickly. By developing visual learning skills one can significantly

reduce time spent learning (MindTools.com, 2009).

In fact, this approach remains consistent with thehighly respected Dual-Coding theory developed byAllan Paivio in 1971. Paivio’s theory propositions that,“The human mind operates with two distinct classes ofmental representation…verbal representations andmental images, and that human memory thus comprisestwo functionally independent (although interacting)systems for verbal memory and image memory”(Thomas, 2008). Basically, when learners receiveinformation through both verbal and visual stimuli, ourminds process and store them separately. This essentiallycreates two separate, but intertwined memories. A memory ismore likely to be retained and retrieved when two memorieswork to trigger one another.

In addition to understanding the role of visual learning in relation to other learning styles, one mustalso understand its role in history. This section presents significant events throughout history that

relate and demonstrate aspects of visual learning; it will serve as a timeline to show how we developed throughthe ages.

Cro-Magnons, the earliest known forms of homo-sapiens, painted images on cave or rock walls and ceilings to telltheir stories approximately 40,000 years ago. Most themes of these paintings depicted animals such as bison, horses,and deer. Man’s image in these paintings were rare but there were tracings of human hands. Due to the relative lackof material evidence, there would be certain impossibility in attempting to understand the prehistoric mindset with amodern mind (Citrinitas.com, 2008).

Visual representations of concepts and ideas reinforce and

support all learning styles. These techniques help learners:• Make abstract ideas visible and concrete

• Connect prior knowledge and new concepts

• Provide structure for thinking, writing, discussing,

analyzing, planning, and reporting • Focus thoughts and ideas, leading to understanding

and interpretation(Inspiration.com, 2009)

My Flower List My Flower List

MarigoldMarigold

PansyPansy

RueRue

Woodbine Woodbine

Daisy Daisy

CowslipCowslip

CarnationCarnation

PrimrosePrimrose

VioletsViolets

PinkPink

Review this example from Robin Williams’ The Non-

Designers Design Book (2003):

History

Around 9000 BC, ancient cultures all over the world used cuneiforms and hieroglyphs. These were early writtensymbols based on pictograms (a symbol representing a concept, object, activity, place, or event by illustration) andideograms (a graphical symbol that represents an idea) (2008). Around 5000 BC, pictograms and ideograms beganto develop in a logographic writing system. A valuable component of characters in alphabets began as pictures withmeaning (West, 1997). Many ideograms are still used today in airports and other environments where patrons maybe unfamiliar with the language. In fact, pictograms are still the main medium of written communication in variousnon-literate cultures in Africa and the Americas.

In ancient Egypt around 2000 BC, the first true alphabet, one that records consonants and vowels separately, wascreated. Most of today’s alphabets descended from, or were greatly influenced and inspired by, its design. ThePhoenicians, descendants of the Bronze Age, created the Phoenician alphabet from the Proto-Canaanite alphabet inthe mid 11th century. It was the first alphabet based on the principal that one sign represents one spoken sound(2008). The Greek alphabet then modified the Phoenician alphabet and is the source for all modern scripts inEurope today. Several Phoenician consonants were not present in the Greek adaptation, but were adapted torepresent vowels. This adaptation of vowels justly made it the world’s first true alphabet.

The Romans, several hundreds of years later, used the Greek alphabet forthe uppercase alphabet known today. Depending on its purpose, theRomans developed several distinctive lettering styles for manuscripts andimportant documents. Less formal styles were used for letters and routinewriting, all the while refining the art of handwriting.

Medieval Europe may have been one of the darkest periods known tomankind, but it held some of the greatest book designers that ever livedand produced some of the most beautiful books the world has everknown. These books were written over decades with one scribereplacing the other after their lifetime. These are now known as theIlluminated Manuscripts (2008). They are classified by art historiansaccording to their specific historic periods and types. Although most ofthese manuscripts are religious in nature, the artwork used created a newera in visual communication and learning.

The next significant event occurred in the 15th century when Germaninventor Johannes Gutenberg invented a printing press that, withrefinements and increased mechanization, remained the principal meansof printing until the late 20th century. The inventor's method ofprinting from movable type, including the use of metal molds andalloys, a special press, and oil-based inks, allowed mass production ofprinted books for the first time (Ideafinder.com).

During the Renaissance, scientists began to illustrate their research andstudies with images. Some examples include herbariums andmedicinal books. The Renaissance brought the spirit of scientificaccuracy and helped scientific illustrations really come into their ownCitrinitas.com, 2008). Leonardo da Vinci recognized theimpossibility of recording volumes of data, and therefore translatedwords into drawings from different perspectives. As history repeatsitself, we may find that certain types of information is betterpresented visually rather than verbally (Stokes, 2001).

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Industrial Revolution was a major technological, socioeconomic, andcultural change that spread throughout the world. In this environment, fueled by mass production, lithography wasinvented. This technique set type free from the typesetter. Movable type introduced an efficient method to bookproduction and led to a boom in the production of texts.

In 1826, the invention of photography and in 1884, the development of photographic film, revolutionized visualimagery and visual communication. During this time, the Arts and Crafts movement was reacting toindustrialization, although it was neither anti-industrial nor anti-modern. It was a reformist movement that greatlyinfluenced architecture, decorative arts, furniture, and crafts in America and Europe. Art Nouveau and Eclecticismbecame leading trends in the movement.

Modernism was a part of the popular culture in the 1930s. Modern ideas in art appeared in commercials and logos.Art Deco became a leading style movement that influenced architecture, design, fashion, and visual arts. In the late1940’s, graphic design in the modern style gained widespread acceptance and was applied liberally. A boomingpost-World War II American economy established a greater need for graphic design, mainly in advertising andpackaging (Citrinitas, 2008).

In 1950, UNIVAC, the first computer designed to handle both numeric and textual information, was designed. Thisachievement launched the computer era. With research and technology advancing at exponential rates, the resultspropelled the visualization movement in modern computing, thus allowing for more profound insights andenhanced abilities to communicate ideas, data, and concepts.

History shows that the development of visual communications has been the underlying fire to visual learning. Fromman’s early cave drawings to the latest in graphic design, we have seen visual learning evolve from its simplest formto the technological marvel it is today. Visual communication is the essence to understanding and learning in today’ssociety. Remember, we are all visual learners.

Dynamic visual learning covers many genres including video,animation, simulations, slide programs, and more. It impacts anyvisual learning tool that involves the movement of graphics. Recently

there has been great improvement in the areas of documentaries, online videos, animations, and slide programs.Documentaries and videos solve a great need in our world and in education, “For us to know one another, to knowwhat’s really going on in the world around us and to feel a commonality of need and purpose with other people”(Maysles, 2008).

Using live examples of work, experiments, and speakers are valuable to any course at any level. Although teacherswould opt for the real thing if possible, having famous literary authors, nuclear physics demonstrations, and aplethora of other exhibits live in a classroom is unrealistic. Documentaries oftentimes solve this dilemma. Theability to watch experts give their viewpoint, authors present their content, or researchers demonstrate experimentshas proven itself numerous times in the classroom. Traditionally, documentaries have followed a “dry” format.However, documentaries have begun to change their format and outlook.

New trends in documentary filmmaking can be found in “The Elegant Universe” by Brian Greene, a film onadvanced physics string theory. The film incorporates animated simulations and advanced recreations to explainquantum theory. It uses easy-to-follow, real-world simulations as examples, while utilizing necessary interviews withspecialists on the subject. “With Greene's book in hand, the NOVA production team…created innovativevisualizations of invisible things, such as extra dimensions, parallel universes, and black holes” (The Making Of"The Elegant Universe," 2003).

Dynamic Visual Learning:

Documentaries

Beyond the documentary, a new genre of teaching using film hasarisen: the web video. Videos have emerged on trendy sites, such asYouTube; they include a variety of educational video shorts and clips.

Chris O’Neal researched what YouTube offers teachers, and stated, “I spent several days browsing YouTube, and Ifound tons of fun things and lots of potentially beneficial classroom video clips, as well as the usualeye-opening experience when dealing with the world's population and the things people want to share” (O'Neal,2006). Teachers benefit from expanding their library of tools to include content on the web, including websites suchas YouTube. For example:

Students can be asked to find video examples of what they are learning. A high school social studies teacher gives the students a list of the different economic terms in the unit and asks students to findexamples of a term from TV, movies, or YouTube. He explains that he only wants short two to four minute clips that focus directly on giving an example of the term. A student remembers a clip from the TV show "Burn Notice" on the law of supply and demand in the negotiation of hostages, goes to Hulu.com to find the show, and determines the start and ending time within the show. The student writes out the web address, the exact time in the show when the clip begins, how long the clip is, annotates what this clip shows about finance term, and posts it to the class wiki. (Tuttle, ND)

The use of online video has expanded to include live webcasts. In one example, students had the opportunity to talkwith astronauts and ask questions in real-time through a live webcast (Rush, 2008). Although the option to uploadvideo clips to the Internet has existed for years, teachers have recently begun to utilize YouTube, live webcasts, andexercises asking students to create their own educational videos.

Animations and simulations are becoming increasingly popularand span educational topics such as architecture, medicine,aerospace, marketing, history, engineering, biology, and even real

estate courses (Skweres, 2004). These all currently contribute to learning, and are on the leading edge of educationaltrends. The advancements in these techniques and how they’re portrayed to students has led to a renaissance indynamic visuals in the classroom.

One of the newest animated teaching trends has been student-created work. It is extended learning for the studentwho created the animation tool, and is used as a way to teach other students. Line Rider is an example that crossesbetween animation and simulation. Line Rider was created by a student in Slovenia in 2006 as a ‘time-killer,’ butfound a use in education.

Line Rider is an application that allows players to construct their own virtual track filled with as many ramps, hills,and jumps as they can imagine utilizing a pencil tool. Once the player is done creating their course, they can senda virtual sledder down the route until he wipes out. The possibilities in Line Rider are onlylimited by physics and the player's imagination with an almost endless numberof variations and replay. (Green, 2007) It may be hard to figure out how a“game” can contribute to learning, but the opportunities in mathseem endless:

Discuss curves, parallel lines, background, foreground, perspective, even mathematical elements such as parabolas and arcs…Math teachers could use this toy as an engaging hook for geometry students that are about to start graphing parabolas. Imagine hitting the “slopes” of Line Rider, only to lead into talking about actual slopes of lines. Students could even measure and transfer the lines they’ve created on the computer screen to graph paper and compare which graphs would rate higher on the “radical” scale. (Rimes, 2006)

Dynamic Visual Learning:

Animations and Simulations

Dynamic Visual Learning:

Video on the Web

Programs such as this bridge the gap between games and teaching, and between old and new trends. By reachingbeyond traditional education techniques and methods into student-created simulations for teaching, we touchmultiple students in new ways. Incorporating games that students associate with fun, and showing them that theycan use it as a learning tool as well, is invaluable.

The poet, Simonides, said, “Words are the images of things”(Benson, 1997). Although most people tend to think in words ratherthan pictures, learning through words is not the most effective way for

our brains to process information. Thus, visual learning is increasing in popularity. For students who have troubleunderstanding a subject or information, visual aids may help them make connections with concepts

that they may not otherwise grasp. Although technology and visualization alone doesnot help learning, properly using them does.

The focus in this example is mind maps, which use graphic organizersor sketches to organize thoughts. In the 1950s, and early 1960s, AllanM. Collins and M. Ross Quillian developed the theory of mind maps.People regard Collins as the father of the modern mind maps(Wikipedia, 2009). A mind map is any type of visualization used torepresent ideas, words, classifications, problems, and more. This allows thecreator of a mind map more creativity because they can use colors, lines,and spatial relationships to communicate ideas.

Educationalists, engineers, psychologists, and others who use learning,brainstorming, visual memory, and problem solving techniques have usedmind maps for many years. With visual contents, users can easily see thewhole picture and generate a regular outline. Recently, mind maps haveexpanded into a variety of formats. There are many tools for mind maps;some examples include Mind Manager by Mind Jet Company and XMind byXMind Company. In fact, there are over a hundred mind map tools on theInternet. This is due to their functions, abilities, and powerful visuals.

In XMind, it is easy to type and create nodes. There are different charts andstructures to choose from such as mind maps, concept maps, fish board charts,and more. Furthermore, Xmind allows users to search images or topics from theweb and drag them into any mind map. This function saves users time when theyinsert hyperlinks or pictures. Users can also add attachments and insert custom filesin this software. Adding notes and labels to make mind maps more understandableand the ability to change themes, background, and color greatly enhance the soft-ware. Recording is also a very special function of this software; for example, anyonecan make a podcast and insert it into the maps. Upon completion of a mind map,Xmind enables users to share the maps with PDF, Microsoft Word, Microsoft

PowerPoint, RTF, Image, and Text files. This software won SourceForge.net’s 4th Annual (2009) Community ChoiceAwards “Best Project for Academia,” so it is highly recommend for use (Xmind.net, 2009).

Another valuable use of visual learning techniques happens in the the mathclassroom. Mathematics has traditionally been taught in an abstract manner,employing a combination of numbers, symbols, and a unique vocabulary. It

has been largely compartmentalized into subsets or ‘strands’: algebra, geometry, trigonometry, statistics, etc. Visuals

Dynamic Visual Learning:

Mind Maps

K-12 Visual Learning:

Mathematics Focus

used while math teaching were usually devoid of any real-world context; instead, educators used mostlyequations and graphs the generic variables ‘x’ and ‘y’. Geometry is the more visual, but traditional geometry dealtonly with abstract shapes like points, lines, cubes, etc. devoid of any worldly context. Textbooks included a fewtoken “word problems” at the end of a section, with maybe a picture or two to go along with them.

With the advent of personal computers and the Internet, there has been an explosion in the amount of visual andmultimedia resources, both the products and the tools to produce them, available for the classroom teacher. Theseresources make it possible for teachers to design lessons with a rich, wide range of visuals (pictures, drawings,videos, simulations, etc.) to both engage their students and help them understand concepts. Of course, just theavailability of these technologies and resources does not ensure that all K-12 classrooms will be transformedovernight into high-tech multimedia learning environments. There are challenges like the lack of training, the lack oftime and effort required to search for and incorporate these resources, and teacher technophobia. Most schools,however, have a growing number of progressive, tech-capable teachers; between their influence on theircolleagues, and pressure from the public and online learning, more and more technology-integrated teaching withengaging visual media will emerge.

In recent decades there has been a movement within K-12 mathto integrate the different strands and to center the mathlearning around real-world problems. Cooperative studentgroups perform experiments to discover the math related tothat problem. For example, a unit in course one ofContemporary Mathematics in Context involves starting up abungee jumping operation (Coxford, 2003). The studentsexplore the math related to designing the bungee apparatusand running the business. This new approach benefits fromvisual resources such as bungee pictures and videos,hands-on experiments and simulations of bungee jumps,and the graphing of the data that students collect. Alongwith a large increase in the contextual visuals included intextbooks, publishers are improving their teaching-supportwebsites to provide a variety of visual aids, programs, andInternet links to help teachers incorporate these visual andinteractive resources.

Some examples of visual devices and programs found inthe classroom of a progressive, tech-savvy teacher couldinclude: a presentation program on an interactivewhiteboard and camera, wireless tablet and keyboardsystems, and clicker systems. A daily presentation slidemight include a page from the textbook with a photoand link to the website of the Biosphere 2 projectwhere students can take a video tour to see thevarious geometric structures used in the complex.Geometric shapes can be manipulated on thewhiteboard and linked to a downloaded applet whichsimulates slicing or transforming them. An online‘gizmo’ at ExploreLearning.com performsprobability experiments with varying odds.(Explore Learning, 2009)

Many math teachers use Smartview. Smartview is an interactive graphing calculator simulator where a studentcaninteract at the board while other students can see what they should be doing. Classmates can also offer help to theoperator. Some teachers use a TI Navigator networking system for their calculators, enabling them to project anystudent’s calculator onto the board and enables the students to send their data and graphs to the screen (e.g., tomatch a rainbow’s shape). A new and powerful drawing program is the free Google Sketchup which allows thedrawing of 2D and 3D objects very quickly, including elaborate buildings with all the windows, doors and furniture.All of these visual images and programs on the whiteboard are the central focal points for class work,investigations and discussions. Students and teachers can interact with, write and drawon the images, and save them for later use and forabsent students.

Data visualization (communicating information, derivedfrom data, through graphical means) techniques arintroduced in math courses, but are used in countless

subjects and disciplines. Graphs can convey information veryquickly and clearly, where words or tables of data cannot havethe same impact. Tools used to produce traditional graphssuch as bar graphs, line plots, scatter plots and pie graphs haveimproved greatly since the advent of the computer. Along withthe increasing amount and type of data being generated andmade available via the internet, the number of different ways tovisualize this data is also expanding. Visual-literacy.org catalogsthe different types of data, process, concept, etc. visualizations into a “periodic table of visualization methods”(Lengler, 2007). Looking around the internet, however, it seems that people will keep coming up with new ways totake some data and turn it into a new type of graph, or mind map, or the web. One site that has attempted tocollect examples of the wide variety of visualizations out there is visualcomplexity.com. There are a growinnumber of sites that provide the tools and database access needed to produce and host sophisticated visualizations,

such as ManyEyes.alphaworks.ibm.com and Google’s Visualization API.

There is a large and rapidly growing population of visual methods, tools and resources available to the K-12classroom teacher. While there are hurdles to incorporating these effectively into all teachers’ lessons and practices,there is a growing momentum from parents, business, and local governments to create a more engaging andparticipatory classroom. With the leadership of forward-looking and tech-library of visual elements will be a largepart of future classrooms.

Ultimately, visual learning is the most universally acknowledged learning style because itsimpression and recollection. Visual representations of thoughts and ideas span from

man’s early cave drawings to walls to modern man creating mind maps on their portable media devices to theclassroom. It has the strength and power to stand the test of time and helps us communicate quickly and effectivelyto all ages and cultures [universally] in many environments. In fact, Aristotle stated that, “without image, thinking isimpossible” (Benson, 1997). Images enliven our worlds and our minds.

While it’s difficult to pick ju

st a few representative vis

ualization examples, her

are a few interesting ones:

• A concept map relating overp

opulation to its environmenta

l

effects. (Chaves, 2009)

• An interactive graph that sh

ows all the things that mak

e up the

inflation rate (Bloch, 2008).

• A snapshot from a video of a

scatter plot comparing famil

y size

to life expectancy (Rosling, 2006)

, where points show differe

nt-sized

countries (point size) from

different geographical regio

ns (color).

It is animated to show chan

ges over time, and points ar

e clickable to

show the variation within ea

ch country.

Conclusion

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