Welcome to the Visual-Spatial Resource Blog!
Hi!
I'm Allie, Director of the Visual-Spatial Resource in Denver, Colorado.
Whatever path led you here, I'm glad you found us! If you're curious about the preferred learning style of your child or student, or even yourself, you're in the right place.
I'll be posting various articles and information on one specific learning style: visual-spatial. Why not any others? Well, the model we follow has only two distinct learning styles: visual-spatial and auditory-sequential. Two learning styles following the two hemispheres of the brain.
What others have termed, "right-brained," we refer to as visual-spatial. (We hate the right-brain, left-brain terminology because it makes people sound like half-wits! You need both sides of your brain to accomplish nearly every cognitive task.)
Illustrated by Buck Jones. Copyright held by Linda Kreger Silverman. Silverman, L.K. (2002) Upside-down brilliance: The visual-spatial learner. Used with permission.
Those who prefer a visual-spatial learning style are those who think in pictures, not in words. The prefer to approach subjects with the big picture, not the smallest detail. The best teaching methods include those that allow for hands-on learning, incorporate music and humor, use color liberally, and employ the student to make connections by using metaphors.
You won't find me talking much about the other learning style: auditory-sequential. Teachers and schools already do a fantastic job meeting the needs of this type of learner. We teach in words, they think in words. We talk fast, they process fast (because they're not translating words into pictures or mental images into words), our curricula is designed to present material step-by-step, they learn from the details to the big picture. We've got education down pat for this type of student.
As you learn more about the visual-spatial learner construct, keep in mind that an individual's learning style lies somewhere on a continuum of preference. Much like prefered handedness, many of us are strongly right- or left-hemispheric. However, also like handedness, one can learn to compensate and get by using the non-dominant hemisphere. I liken this to breaking an arm. If you are right-handed, and you break your right arm, you can learn -- with practice -- to write with your left hand. Your writing will eventually become legible and you can get by. BUT, it will never be your best work, nor the most efficient means for you to write.
This is what our traditional education has done to visual-spatial learners for decades. By excluding the gifts of the right hemisphere and focusing solely on phonetic reading, rote memorization of math facts and quick recall of data, we have excluded the right hemisphere in favor of the left. Many of our brightest students have compensated and compensated well. But there has been a cost.
Students with strong right hemispheres are needed as architects, surgeons, artists, musicians, inventors, playwrights, designers, and in so many other capacities. It took amazing visual-spatial ability to construct an International Space Station and these gifts will only continue to be called upon in the 21st century.
If this has piqued your interest, I hope you'll visit my website, Visual-Spatial Resource at http://www.visualspatial.org. You'll find articles and books filled with techniques for teaching and living with the visual-spatial learners in your life!
Allie
I'm Allie, Director of the Visual-Spatial Resource in Denver, Colorado.
Whatever path led you here, I'm glad you found us! If you're curious about the preferred learning style of your child or student, or even yourself, you're in the right place.
I'll be posting various articles and information on one specific learning style: visual-spatial. Why not any others? Well, the model we follow has only two distinct learning styles: visual-spatial and auditory-sequential. Two learning styles following the two hemispheres of the brain.
What others have termed, "right-brained," we refer to as visual-spatial. (We hate the right-brain, left-brain terminology because it makes people sound like half-wits! You need both sides of your brain to accomplish nearly every cognitive task.)
Illustrated by Buck Jones. Copyright held by Linda Kreger Silverman. Silverman, L.K. (2002) Upside-down brilliance: The visual-spatial learner. Used with permission.Those who prefer a visual-spatial learning style are those who think in pictures, not in words. The prefer to approach subjects with the big picture, not the smallest detail. The best teaching methods include those that allow for hands-on learning, incorporate music and humor, use color liberally, and employ the student to make connections by using metaphors.
You won't find me talking much about the other learning style: auditory-sequential. Teachers and schools already do a fantastic job meeting the needs of this type of learner. We teach in words, they think in words. We talk fast, they process fast (because they're not translating words into pictures or mental images into words), our curricula is designed to present material step-by-step, they learn from the details to the big picture. We've got education down pat for this type of student.
As you learn more about the visual-spatial learner construct, keep in mind that an individual's learning style lies somewhere on a continuum of preference. Much like prefered handedness, many of us are strongly right- or left-hemispheric. However, also like handedness, one can learn to compensate and get by using the non-dominant hemisphere. I liken this to breaking an arm. If you are right-handed, and you break your right arm, you can learn -- with practice -- to write with your left hand. Your writing will eventually become legible and you can get by. BUT, it will never be your best work, nor the most efficient means for you to write.
This is what our traditional education has done to visual-spatial learners for decades. By excluding the gifts of the right hemisphere and focusing solely on phonetic reading, rote memorization of math facts and quick recall of data, we have excluded the right hemisphere in favor of the left. Many of our brightest students have compensated and compensated well. But there has been a cost.
Students with strong right hemispheres are needed as architects, surgeons, artists, musicians, inventors, playwrights, designers, and in so many other capacities. It took amazing visual-spatial ability to construct an International Space Station and these gifts will only continue to be called upon in the 21st century.
If this has piqued your interest, I hope you'll visit my website, Visual-Spatial Resource at http://www.visualspatial.org. You'll find articles and books filled with techniques for teaching and living with the visual-spatial learners in your life!
Allie
posted by Allie Golon at
10:42 AM
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