Visual learning is a learning style where concepts and ideas are associated with images, diagrams, objects and videos. There are other teaching techniques besides visual learning which if incorporated together enhances the productivity. Visual learning improves student’s concept understanding; hence, improving performance. In addition, some of the students are poor in physical learning but very good in visual learning. Some people understand images, paintings and experiments more than verbal or written explanation.

Literature Review

Imagery

When scientists report about imagery, it is common to find the mental manipulations and transformation theme. Visual-spatial images can be transformed on a paper, as concrete models or in an individual’s mind. Images hold symbolic suggestions of relations and concepts thereby extending their physical forms (Ramadas, 2009). Images are used in learning to connect the verbal explanation about a phenomenon with the reality. Some students have high virtual comprehension and reasoning. If such students are put in a theoretical environment, they might not understand.

Paintings and prints

In the 18th century, visual expertise was important to naturalists who bought and sold paintings, prints and shells (Bleichmar, 2012). Visual learning ways important to them in identifying the class, genus, family and species based on observation. The naturalists used to study the plate or examine the shell comparing images and moving from one to the other. They studied every detail to understand the whole painting. After conducting a study to determine the level of students motivation in a multi-user practical situation, Dede et al. (2005), found that students in a multi-user practical setting improved their knowledge of biology by 32%-35%. There was an increase in their motivation to learn due to the introduction of a virtual environment.

Visual-spatial learning

As Trindade et al. (2002) put it, among the many learning styles available, visual-spatial style is prominent. Visual-spatial is the capability to think in pictures rather than in words. In general, students improve their learning from sensory, inductive, illustrative and active processes as opposed to verbal and passive. Use of images helps a teacher emphasize relevant principles and concepts. Visual environments such as 3-D graphics can enable the formation of conceptual models.

A study done to identify the impacts of animated virtual actors revealed that the students showed a high perception of learning. The students also improved on transfer and improvement tests after viewing the tests (Kartiko, Kavakli & Cheng, 2010). For students taking the practical sciences such as physics, the better option would be to combine the virtual and physical environments. For example, De Jong et al. found out that in a group of students studying microbiology, those who carried out physical labs were less successful as compared to a group that substituted one laboratory session with a simulation.  Though virtual learning is better than physical learning, a combination of both is even much better.  Virtual learning in science enables students to observe unobservable concepts that are otherwise not observable in physical learning.

After conducting a study to determine the level of students motivation in a multi-user practical setting, Dede et al. (2005), found that students in a multi-user practical setting improved their knowledge of biology by 32%-35%. There was an increase in their motivation to learn due to the introduction of a virtual environment.

Analysis

From early centuries, visual learning has been used especially in arts and social sciences. The study of paintings and prints in the early days depended on virtual learning. Long-term memory follows a routine and is declarative. Children commonly rely on practical images to memorize things like actions. Adults on the other hand program things in their minds. For verbal communication, memory commonly depends on the imagery instructions, the image-evoking assessment of words and description strategies. As stated by Ramadas (2009), individuals can transform Visual-spatial in their minds. He continues to argue that in science, illustrations and phenomena are made visible by use of drawings and imagery. He states that ´” In the sociology of science even a textual experimental report is seen as the narration of prior visual experiences” (Ramadas, 2009). Some illustrations in science require diagrams and videos for students to capture the idea. Science reports are a description of the illustrations and experiments.

Bleichmar (2012) explains that in the 18th century, naturalists studied all aspects of a painting or print to identify the value of the painting. The painting has no description meaning the collectors depended entirely on their observation of the painting to determine the authenticity of the painting. The image evoked value and the phenomena.

Kartiko, Kavakli & Cheng (2010) found that the use of animated virtual actors increased the student’s perception of learning. They argued that using of animated virtual actors did not increase the complexity of learning nor did it affect the flow and learning outcomes. It just improved the way students viewed the subject.  However, Ramadas (2009) argues that some students have high virtual comprehension and reasoning. Not all students are the same nor do they have equal capabilities. Some people can understand an information portrayed inform of a picture faster than a verbal or written statement. Such a student cannot fit in a physical learning environment.

Conclusion

Virtual learning is as old as learning itself. In early times when cultures started to integrate, they learnt about each other using drawings. The early collectors of arts depended on observation in determining the authenticity of paintings.  In science, it is more practical than theoretical. Science reports are an explanation of a practical phenomenal. Virtual learning is a major component in science as it helps students understand better and improve performance. Virtual learning in science enables students to observe unobservable concepts that are otherwise not observable in a physical environment.

Virtual-spatial learning is widely used in our societies today. Images and pictures are used to portray different messages without the use of any words. In sciences such as biology and physics, some phenomenon and concepts cannot be explained without the use of visuals. Visual learning has to come in at some point to ensure the students capture the concept well. Images and visual experiments are very common in our schools today. They allow the students to relate and put into practice what they learnt verbally.

References

Bleichmar, D. (2012). Learning to look: Visual expertise across art and science in eighteenth-century France. Eighteenth-Century Studies, 46(1), 85-111. DOI 10.1353/ecs.2012.0084

Dede, C., Clarke, J., Ketelhut, D. J., Nelson, B., & Bowman, C. (2005, April). Students’ motivation and learning of science in a multi-user virtual environment. In American Educational Research Association Conference, Montreal, Canada (pp. 1-8).

De Jong, T., Linn, M. C., & Zacharia, Z. C. (2013). Physical and virtual laboratories in science and engineering education. Science, 340(6130), 305-308.

Kartiko, I., Kavakli, M., & Cheng, K. (2010). Learning science in a virtual reality application: The impacts of animated-virtual actors’ visual complexity. Computers & Education, 55(2), 881-891. DOI 10.1016/j.compedu.2010.03.019

Ramadas, J. (2009). Visual and spatial modes in science learning. International Journal of Science Education, 31(3), 301-318. DOI 10.1080/09500690802595763

Trindade, J., Fiolhais, C., & Almeida, L. (2002). Science learning in virtual environments: a descriptive study. British Journal of Educational Technology, 33(4), 471-488.

 
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