Visual Learning Style

Visual Learners = You are holistic rather than reductionist in your approach. You want the whole picture. Visual learners do not like handouts, words, lectures, textbooks or assessments that hinge on word usage, syntax and grammar. Therefore you hate the multiple choice tests used in BIOL 198.

If you have a strong preference for Visual (V) learning, here are some suggestions for how to be successful in BIOL 198. Not all of these will work for everybody, but some of them will probably work for you.

INTAKE [How to get the material into your head] - During the studio sessions, take advantage of the graphical interface on the web-based material. Use the tutorials or the associated figures in your textbook to get the information. Don't watch the computer animations as if you are watching TV. Concentrate on these, but you need to pay attention to the words as well as the moving pictures. Underline or highlight (using different colors) the important parts of the text. For learning complex biological processes such as mitosis or photosynthesis, use flow charts to follow the sequence of steps. Make drawings of processes or structures in your notes. Look through the "additional web resources" for each module to find those that are graphically oriented and that use animations, pictures, and graphs to teach this material.

SWOT [Study without tears] - MAKE A LIST OF THE OBJECTIVES and find all the figures in your textbook or studio manual which reinforce each objective. Use the other figures in your textbook to focus your attention on the important material. Convert your studio manual notes into page pictures and try to redraw them from memory. Use the web-based tutorials to visualize the objective material in different ways. Draw diagrams to depict complex processes (e.g. biogeochemical cycles, passage of food through the digestive system), and memorize these diagrams rather than the words. In preparation for the tests, try writing (in words) the steps in these diagrams from memory.

OUTPUT [To perform well in the examination] - As noted above, you have a strong bias against assessments that hinge on word usage. Some of the test questions will use figures or diagrams. If you have prepared as above you should do well on that subset of questions. Unfortunately, due to the large size of this class and the necessity for computer grading, our tests do have a significant proportion of the questions that are strictly word usage and recall. The study techniques listed above should allow you to turn your visual images into words. That should be looked upon as a challenge, and not as an excuse in preparation for failure. Some other possible strategies include drawing diagrams on the tests where appropriate, recalling your page pictures, and making use of the words you used when converting your study diagrams into a verbal form.

If you are a Visual learner, and have some other strategies that have helped you in this class, please let us know and we can update these paragraphs.