How External Visualization Can Help You Learn

“Learning styles” is a term that refers to “how learners gather, sift through, interpret, organize, come to conclusions about, and “store” information for further use.” While it’s been proposed that each individual has one dominant learning style to which teaching should be catered for best results, research over the years doesn’t seem to support this theory. Instead, it appears that certain learning styles or techniques may be best suited for certain material. External visualization—as opposed to the internal visualization strategies often used in therapeutic settings—is one technique that may be helpful in various educational contexts for learners of all ages. 

What external visualization looks like in education

In this context, visualization means using physical representations to help illustrate complex concepts. Visual representations can take the form of things like photos, flow charts, diagrams, graphs, and scale models, each of which may encourage more interactive learning. Specific examples include:

• Understanding historical trade routes with the help of a map
• Identifying trends over time with the help of a well-labeled graph
• Grasping how mechanical systems like gears or pulleys work with the help of a small working model

While each individual may learn in different ways, one study suggests that having visual aids and illustrations for certain topics may broadly increase understanding—which researchers found to be true across the board, both for students with high spatial ability and those with low spatial ability. This implies that external visualization techniques may be widely beneficial in educational settings.

Why external visualization may be so effective

To understand why external visualization can be such a powerful tool, it may be helpful to understand a bit about the neurobiological basis for learning. While various regions of the brain are involved in the absorption of new information—such as the frontal lobe for critical thinking, the temporal lobes for memory, and the amygdala for memory storage—it’s the occipital lobe that seems to be the most closely linked to the process of visualization in learning. This region is located in the back of the brain. It’s responsible for vision but also for visualizing and imagining things we’ve never seen in person before, which is what makes it the key to success in visualization for learning.

Building off of these key tenets of neurology, researchers have identified a few different reasons why visual explanations may be more effective ways of encouraging learning in the human brain than verbal explanations alone. For one, they postulate that visual explanations communicate concepts more directly due to the significant role the occipital lobe plays in learning. They also theorize that it’s easier to conceptualize smaller parts of complex whole systems in a visual manner, and that checking for completeness and cohesion between parts is a simpler process when done in a tangible way.

How visualization can be used in the classroom

One educational theory that supports the effectiveness of external visualization is known as dual coding. Dual coding means using both verbal and non-verbal information to teach information. It’s based on the idea that there are two parts of working memory: one that deals with spatial and visual memory and another that deals with auditory information. By providing classroom content in both auditory and visual forms, teachers can appeal to both systems to improve and enrich learning without overwhelming the brains of their students.  

Many classrooms already rely on auditory information for imparting knowledge, such as through lectures. To implement more visual learning elements in the classroom to foster greater academic progress, it may be helpful to look over the following ideas.

Drawings

Having students draw pictures can help them make comparisons, create meaning, find similarities and differences, and identify important information. By asking students to create visual learning tools themselves, they may also get the benefit of thinking through the information, considering how it all comes together, and figuring out how to present it in the most straightforward way possible. Drawings can take many forms, such as charts, graphs, or concept maps.

Fill-in-the-blank diagrams and forms

Teachers can also provide students with drawings or diagrams that have blank spaces for them to fill in to aid in visualization. This approach gives learners a basic framework to start with so it’s not as free form as a blank piece of paper, but it still asks them to process information similarly. For example, an educator could give their students a diagram of the digestive system or the water cycle and ask them to label the different parts.

Timelines

Timelines can help students see how different events are related to each other throughout time. A teacher might ask their students to create their own timeline from scratch based on dates, or they may be given various photos or descriptors and asked to put them in chronological order. Creating a timeline requires gathering information from various lessons and making connections between events, which can help students visualize how things build on one another and solidify their learning.

How therapy may support better learning outcomes

Although there’s a neurological basis for the way that learning takes place in humans, there are a variety of individual differences that can affect this process, too. For example, high stress levels, anxiety, and depression could all manifest as trouble concentrating. Or, someone with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may have trouble staying on task or absorbing information through traditional methods. Therapy may help with challenges like these, as a trained therapist is equipped to address a variety of symptoms and concerns and provide healthy coping mechanisms for managing them. 

Therapy can be beneficial for people in a variety of circumstances, but traditional in-person methods of receiving care aren’t right for everyone. Those who can’t find providers in their area, don’t have time to travel to and from in-office appointments, or would simply feel more comfortable meeting with a provider from home might consider online therapy instead. With a platform like BetterHelp, you can get matched with a licensed therapist who you can meet with via phone, video call, and/or in-app messaging from anywhere you have an internet connection. Research suggests that online therapy can be just as effective as in-person treatment in many cases.

Takeaway

External visualization in an educational setting refers to the use of tangible representations to help students better understand certain concepts. Examples could include diagrams, scale models, drawings, and timelines. The widespread effectiveness of this type of technique may be due to the role of the brain’s occipital lobe in visualization and learning. If you're looking for support in managing learning challenges, meeting with a therapist could be helpful.