Teaching ‘visualization’ can benefit students across age groups
Stuid
Children have amazing imaginations and visualizing make-believe scenes and characters wouldn’t be a difficult task for them at all! But mostly what happens is that, as kids enter schools, they are burdened with concrete learning methods leaving no scope for ‘visualization’. Fantasy and creativity often get replaced with tedious tasks of reading,writing and mathematics. The budding minds are denied “cognitive space” for coming up with interesting ideas and content. Teachers tend to overlook the fun factor in visualization. The process tends to enhance learning, reading and writing skills among children. It also boosts their memory and helps them have better control over their emotions. So the need to strike a balance between basic learning methods and visualization is vital for creating a cohesive learning environment for the future generations.
Visualization in short can be defined as the process of creating or recreating imaginary or real scenes within one’s mind. However it’s not just restricted to mere imagery, use of senses such as touch, sound and taste enhances the impact of ‘visualization’.
How do we visualize?
Beginners expect to see images on the inside of their eyelids, some perceive it as a dream while others try to project dreams into reality like a hologram. The more you practice the skill of visualization, the better you will get at it.
What is the ideal age to teach visualization?
It’s better to catch them young, it can be taught at primary or elementary school level. But to be precise, there isn’t any particular age for learning visualization, it can be easily taught to all age groups.
How does visualization boost academic achievements?
- Visualization helps us in stimulating the parts of our brain. For example, imagine having a slice of Apple. Your mouth starts watering in response to the visualization. It works on the core principle that it would be easy to learn from and remember things that you have experienced.
- They say “a photograph speaks a thousand words”. The same theory works here, visualizing a historical scene or a complex graph in mathematics can really help students in remembering and recollecting several details regarding the same.
- It tends to improve attention and helps in keeping the audience hooked on the subject matter. It can be noted that when students tend to visualize the content of a lesson, they tend to comprehend it better. Studies suggest that visuals help in improving concentration levels and subject interest among students. When they run a “movie in their head”, students are expected to come up with intriguing ideas. Their thoughts remain fluid and their stories become all the more interesting!
- It enhances memory, making learning a multisensory process. Some of the students who have mastered the art of visualization have said that they can actually recreate their notes in their mind’s eye! Artists are another group of people who make good use of visualization in projecting their thoughts and ideas.
Helping children master the art of visualization
It’s very important to give proper knowledge to students regarding visualization. It should be taught to them as ten different skill sets. Students should be taught how to visualize shape, size, color, number, mood, perspective, background and direction.
Following questions can be asked to students regarding their visualization
- What are the colors?
- What are the shapes and sizes of the objects in your visualization?
- What are the perspectives and background details?
- Is there any smell, texture or taste?
Teachers can at times discuss their visualizations with students helping them gain a better understanding of the whole process. Discussions and guided assignments can prove fruitful as well.
Students can be asked to talk about their mental imagery while reading or writing an assignment. They can be encouraged to create visualizations that can help them to memorize content. Allow them to document visualizations and offer them interesting activities related to the same.
Visualization in mathematics
It makes mathematics much easier for students. Students make use of manipulatives to understand math better. For example if a teacher draws a ‘Pizza’ on the board and asks them if they want ½ or ⅓ of the Pizza, it would be easier for them to comprehend and understand the concept of fractions much better. Similarly, history can be learned effectively through visualization. Given students are given the opportunity to read personal accounts of an event or time period they are studying.
Visualizations can help us in understanding concepts in science in a better manner. For instance, students can memorize the fact that water travels from roots to other parts of the plant. But putting a white carnation in a flower vase that has been tinted blue with food coloring is the best method to explain this process to students who will eventually get to see the flower turning blue.
Hence ‘visualization’ is a key element in education especially for the younger generation. It helps them understand concepts across subjects in a more simpler manner through ‘direct’ experience. Hence it is the primary duty of educators to raise awareness on the importance of visualization and introduce them in educational institutions across the country.
Check your knowledge
Visualization in short can be defined as the process of creating or recreating imaginary or real scenes within one’s mind.
It can be easily taught to all age groups.
Yes, it does. It stimulates childrens’ brains resulting in better output.