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How do your children think? The Visual Leaner - by Hilary Craig


by Hilary Craig

Have you ever considered that your child’s learning style may be the reason for their success or failure? Do you know how you learn?

Brain research seems to be in agreement that there are areas in the brain that are devoted to different tasks. The analytical and logical tasks appear to be undertaken in a part of the brain that is towards the left and the visual emotional tasks conducted in an area towards the right of the brain. Varying tasks call on different parts of the brain.

I would suggest that there appear to be three main types of learners. One favours the logical analytical part of the brain, one favours the emotional and visual and the third group uses both.

The group who favour the logical analytical part of the brain, generally do well in school. Their mode of thinking is ideally suited to scholastic success. They are good at sequencing, which provides a firm basis for the linear, sequential, time dependent world in which we live. Schools are designed for these minds and the teaching profession generally attracts the kind of people who think in this way. They had no difficulty at school themselves. They learned easily and in the manner demanded by the institution and given their past successes they naturally believe in the process by which they acquired knowledge. It worked for them so why not repeat a good thing? Logical analytical learners learn within the confines of language and are controlled by it. They listen well and are able to understand what they hear. They think in words. Sentence structure dictates order and subsequent meaning. 'The man ate the shark' is very different in meaning to 'The shark ate the man'. To be able to learn in this manner enables one to be successful in many academic tests and these achievements build the vital ingredient for success – confidence.

The second group of learners are those who favour their visual memory for learning. They think in pictures using the part of the brain that is emotional and creative. These are often our truly brilliant people but for them traditional schooling is frequently a minefield. They do not think in words and are not governed by sentence structure. They ‘see’ the problem or information just as Einstein did. They add to the picture in any order and it doesn’t make a difference to the end result. In contrast to the ‘shark ate man’, ‘ man ate shark’ logic, their pictures will show exactly who is eating whom. Because of the random order of picture creation, these learners do not usually develop good sequencing skills. They often encounter difficulty in counting, order of days of the week, months of the year and time. With their visual learning style they do not always develop full understanding of the little words for which they cannot form pictures. Words such as before, after, between , next may be misunderstood. The acquisition of sequence is not automatic for the visual thinker. It usually has to be learned. The visual learner often encounters difficulty in school. Their random picture creation, lack of sequencing skill and poor verbal comprehension are handicaps in a language, word based, logical, time ordered system. School sometimes becomes a frightening place where there is constant insecurity and the visual learner is at a huge disadvantage.

The third group of learners may be the lucky ones. They can access both types of thinking easily and this enables them to meet the demands of school, and at the same time, use their creative ability. They have no difficulty with order and sequence, logic poses no problems and they can harness their visual memory. They can use the logical sequential system presented at school and supplement it from their imaginations.

Your own favoured learning style will fit one of these three categories and you may not learn the same way as your child. If you think differently, this can be the cause of a great deal of misunderstanding. Similarly, our traditional school model works very well for some minds and suits the way their brains work but for others, their way of thinking excludes them from the success they are capable of achieving. Different thinkers often encounter problems when faced with logical, analytical, sequential tasks or explanations. Einstein did poorly at school and so did Richard Branson. These individuals, whose fine minds thought in pictures, did not find success during their time in school. If your children experience unusual difficulties in developing essential skills, consider learning style a possible reason.

Published in: ABWM January/February 2005
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