Visual Learners: Mind-mapping Angels
by Danielle Green
Do you find that, unless you write something down, you forget it? Do you normally remember things that you’ve seen in videos or on posters better than things people have said to you?
If yes, then maybe you’re a visual learner!
I’m a very visual learner – if I don’t have a picture or something visual to match up to a piece of information, it will fall out my earhole sooner or later. Probably sooner.
Luckily, I’ve found some ways of making sure I can remember as much as possible when there are new things I need to learn. The two key words are COLOUR and PICTURES.
That’s right: if you can associate a piece of information with a colour or an image, you’re more likely to remember it.
I have always found it helpful to use colours to categorise things. As a language learner, I might write down all new nouns I learn in light blue, and all new verbs in green, for example. This helps me to remember which grammatical category the new word belongs to. You can transfer this across to any subject matter – it works great for science, philosophy, and pretty much anything else you can think of!
The same goes with pictures: if you can draw a little diagram with every new concept you learn, it will help you to commit the idea to memory. You don’t have to be an artist – so long as you can remember what you have drawn and associate the picture with the idea, that’s the important thing.
What happens when you put colours, pictures and revision together? Mind-maps, my friend.
Mind-maps are the perfect revision tool for true visual learners: they combine all the key elements of our memory requirements into one.
In order to make a mind-map, get a nice big piece of paper, lots of coloured pens, and your notes. Write down the main topic heading in the middle of the page (preferably along with a lovely little picture, in relevant colours). Draw a big branch off of the topic title, and write the sub-topic title on it. You can make a new branch for each sub-topic. Make sure you don’t write more than one word per branch: this will be too much for your memory! With every new word, include a new visual element – either write in a different font, or draw something. Each time you repeat a word on the same page, use the SAME visual cue, and if possible, draw a line to match it up with the other instance of its use (yes, EVEN if it’s on the opposite side of the page!). All of this will help you to engrave those notes onto your brain, ready for that test or exam you have coming up.
Trust me: it works. And it looks pretty.