Using visuospatial strengths to learn new material

I talk to many teachers about how they can better reach visuospatial learners in their classes, those who think in pictures and see the whole picture, not words or step by step. Many of these teachers tell me that they try to incorporate visual tricks so that their students master the material that needs to be memorized. But, there are things you can do, as a parent, to help your visuospatial student make learning lifelong, too. Here are some examples.

Take the information your kids need to memorize and ask them to create a silly story with it. I once knew an incredibly dynamic teacher and lecture presenter named Jon Pearson (www.createlearning.com) who taught the 13 colonies by having his audience memorize a ridiculous story, in pictures the participants created in their minds, of a Jersey cow. called Georgia, on top of the Empire State Building. Can you “see” New Jersey, Georgia, and New York here? The story went on to include all 13 colonies and after each line we were instructed to create an image in our minds as we repeated the line to it:

There’s a cow named Georgia (Georgia)

It’s a Jersey cow (New Jersey)

She’s sitting on top of the Empire State
Building (New York)

She’s singing a couple of Christmas carols
(North Carolina and South Carolina)

Under the arm there is a Virginia ham
(Virginia and New Hampshire)

The cow is wearing a pair of yellow underpants.
(Rhymes with Delaware)

On his helmet is a pencil (Pennsylvania)

The cow is doing a Connect-the-dots
drawing (Connecticut)

Marilyn Monroe (Maryland)

Walking down a road (Rhode Island)

Go to Mass (Massachusetts)

Illustrated by Buck Jones, 2004. All rights reserved.

When Jon finished, each member of the audience was able to accurately recall the ridiculous images each had created in their minds, and thus the 13 colonies. The best part is that your kids don’t have to be artists to pull this off. If you want the images to be drawn, not just imagined, stick figures work well. As long as the story is silly and funny and uses color, exaggerated sizes, and humor to convey the new material, it will be remembered. They can use this trick to remember so many different types of material, from historical data to scientific principles and much more.

Why do you think beginning piano students are taught the notes of the scale like Every Good Boy Does Fine? Because it works to stay in the mind of the student. Why did we learn the letters of the alphabet to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star? Because catchy tunes serve as an anchor and make new information permanent and retrievable.

Or show your kids how to use acronyms to remember strings of words. Have you seen the trick to memorize the Great Lakes?

h ferret

Ontario

michigan

erie

top s

A Canadian woman I met while presenting in Australia taught me that if you learn this as “Super Man Helps Every One” (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario), then you memorize them in geographical order!

Creating acronyms and mnemonic devices is a useful way to memorize a wide variety of material, especially if you can make the acronym stand for something silly, because humor engages the right hemisphere of the brain, the stronger side for visuospatial learners. My oldest son had to memorize this information for his science class:

Domain

Kingdom

Edge

Class

Organize

Family

Gender

Species

So he created this silly “headline” to remember the order:

Darwin Kracks Porpoise Code orders families to specialists in groups

It’s pointless and ridiculous, which makes it memorable! Try this with your children the next time you have a set of material to memorize.

A dear friend of mine wrote to me with this:
I took a 16 hour strenuous/exhilarating reflexology certification course last weekend. I was told that memorizing the 47-word official definition of reflexology, exactly word for word, was worth 15 points on the Certification exam. At first I thought, I will never be able to do this. So, I decided I would make a song out of it! I put it to a familiar tune! THAT came from YOU!! (Personal communication, E. Meckstroth, October 2004).

Set the information your kids are trying to learn to the tune of a familiar song, like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, or Three Blind Mice, or even Happy Birthday. Always remember that visuospatial learners thrive on the use of color, humor, music, hands-on activities, anything that gets the right hemisphere of the brain into action. Such techniques are sure to make learning fun and permanent.

Create a game with new material your children are learning. This works great for memorizing capital letters to states, countries to continents, specific animals of a species, or any other information that includes two sets of related data. Matching games like “Concentration” don’t take long to create, are fun, and can help you remember what information goes with what. Simply grab some blank white index cards to record your information. You can create each note card with words or pictures, whichever works best for your children.

Suppose you are trying to memorize the state capitals. Make a card for each state, using an outline of the state’s shape with the name of that state included somewhere on or above the outline. Then make a card for each capital. You can make up silly stories if it helps you remember the names of the capital letters. (Springfield, IL could include a drawing of a spring field, for example.)

You can also use color to help your children remember which capitals go with which states. Simply ask them to include color on the drawing or put a dot of color somewhere and use the same color on the matching card. This will be a good way to confirm your selections while playing the game as well.

Once you have created all the cards, place them face down and play the traditional game of concentration where you match capital with state. (You’ll probably want to start with just five or seven states and their capitals and gradually increase the number.)

No matter what material needs to be memorized, show your children how to use their strengths (using color, humor, music, rhyme, etc.) to learn it so they can remember it later.

©Copyright Alexandra Shires Golon (2004). From Golon, AS, If You Could See The Way I Think: A Handbook for Visuospatial Children, Denver (2005): Visual-Spatial Resource.