Visual Imagery is a Powerful Teaching Tool by Tristan

Visual Imagery is a Powerful Teaching Tool by Tristan - January 2015 Scholarship Essay

Each person has a unique approach to learning new material. While everyone can be successful at learning a new subject, offering many types of learning methods will help increase the success rate of students. While learning first hand, as well as tutoring friends throughout our first semester of college, I have personally learned a valuable piece of advice I would gladly give any teacher on how to help students learn.

The biggest mistake students make is studying improperly. They believe to pass a test; it is necessary to memorize all the material. I believe the best advice I have learned, is that you must learn new material with a visual images. You must visualize a concept with images or a greater thought process of the concept. For example, you could just simply try to memorize the fact that any PH balance less than 7 is an acid, or you could imagine an image of a whiney toddler (slightly over dramatic, but the ages being less than 7) and driving you insane (such as having acid on your skin would be painful and annoying, like the toddler bothering you). Seeing the material in a bigger picture or with a visual is key to help remember material for longer periods of time.

Using visual imagery can be used to make studying a little less boring and more creative. I personally love to break up hour-long study sessions by doodling little images to represent facts in my journal. It’s a fun way to simplify concepts and help keep the information obtained longer. This is why I believe that if I could give a teacher one piece of advice on how to help students learn, I would emphasize the use of visual images.