Who are “Visuospatial Learners”? Visuospatial learners, or VSLs, are those among us with powerful right-hemisphere gifts. They are our artists, inventors, builders, creators, musicians, computer gurus, visionaries, and healers. They are empathic and often very spiritually aware, even when they are very young. They think and learn in multidimensional images. Yet most schools, most teachers, and most curricula are a haven for left-brain thinking or auditory sequential learners; children who think and learn with words, not pictures, and step by step.
Those who favor their right brain (at least a third of the student body) face several disadvantages in the regular classroom. One of these challenges is the ability to take effective notes. However, this makes sense when you think about it. By giving strictly auditory lectures, we are asking those who think in images to translate their mental images into words, write those words down quickly, but comprehensively, and then return to those words and create permanent mental images that they can regurgitate on demand. But, for visuospatial learners, there’s a better way!
My son, Matt, was once a homeschool student taking an outdoor World History class and one day, there was a guest teacher who had been in World War II. While the gentleman was giving his lecture (an oral presentation only, no maps, drawings, or other images), he stood over Matt and noticed that Matt was drawing (“scribbling”) in his notebook. He held up the notebook for the entire class to see and said, “I hope the rest of you are paying more attention than this young man.” Matt was horrified that the teacher thought he had just been “scribbling.”
After class, he approached the guest teacher and explained that his “drawings” were how he took notes. She asked the gentleman to question him about any of the materials. The teacher did, and Matt answered all the questions correctly. Matt had decorated the outlines of the countries with the dates the man was there. He had taken the weapons the veteran had used from the descriptions given. As an image thinker, Matt was able to accurately recall the material because he had created images of the details, both in his notebook and in his mind. He drew them, so he owned them. They were permanent images that were easily remembered. The teacher apologized to the class the next day, saying, “I didn’t realize you could take notes on pictures.”
Your children can use this visual-spatial technique of taking picture notes while listening to a lecture or if they need notes about what they are researching from a book, TV show, or the Internet. Regardless of the source they use to learn new material, that material can be more easily recalled by drawing pictures. Drawing helps new material become permanent in their minds because they can “download” those images, mentally, whenever they need them.
If your kids have a hard time staying awake during lectures that don’t have pictures, they need to understand that they are responsible for keeping the right hemispheres of their brains awake! I encourage students to do whatever it takes to keep that part of their brain in the game. Taking notes on images is often a good first step. They can make images silly, funny, and even cartoony. They don’t have to be phenomenal artists. This is just a technique to help remember what you are hearing. Show them how to listen for important details like dates, names, and places and include them in their drawings.
Notice that their drawing includes the names of the ships, the year they sailed, where they sailed from, and where they thought they landed (India). Students can take notes in image format for almost any topic. Even stick figures or quick strokes of a pen or pencil will work – this is note taking, not fine art!
If your kids find they can’t draw fast enough while in class, they can ask the teacher if they’re allowed to record the lecture. That way, they can do their drawings later, when they can play the tape and stop it as needed. If taking picture notes is too time consuming and the teacher won’t allow your children to record the lectures, they can try a modified version of picture note taking by doing a combination of pictures and words.
When I was in high school, I had a teacher who lectured us at lightning speeds. We were expected to write down every word he said. We never knew what little details would be in a pop quiz and we never knew when the quiz would take place. I taught myself to use symbols instead of words. For example, the symbol D means “change.” The symbol means “more than”. This @ symbol means “in”, but it’s even faster to type. The Greek letter Sigma, shown as Σ, means “sum”. These are commonly used symbols, but your children can make up their own. I used Ý to indicate that something was increasing or growing, and ß to indicate that something was taking away or getting smaller. I used “ to write about two columns of things that were the same, or characters in a story that had the same traits, or anything else I needed to know was related in some way (you could also use the = sign!). This symbol, W, is Omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet. I used it every time something was ending or if a character died.
A capital “A” is the Greek symbol for Alpha, or the beginning, and could be used to write about the beginning of something new, the birth or introduction of a new character. You can use “B4” for the word “before” or “opportunity” for “opportunity.” Given the chance, I bet your kids can think of lots of abbreviations and then start using them in their notes.
There are many acronyms in use today. Many people say “TV” for television. If your kids use instant messaging, they already know a lot of acronyms that are used to write secret messages that their parents don’t (ha!). Acronyms are also used to avoid the sender having to type every word. Some of these include, “PLOS” for Parents Looking Over Their Shoulders and “LOL” for Laughing Out Loud. Your children should be encouraged to create their own acronyms when taking notes. Depending on the topic you are taking notes for, there are probably a lot of repeated phrases that you could substitute for an acronym.
Here are some more samples to get you started:
Word Shortcut
with w/
between b/w
double 2x
triple 3x
On the other hand OTOH
By the way BTW
In the first place 1st pl
Taking notes on pictures also works well for information your kids need to research or memorize. For example, suppose you are studying the capitals of all the states in the US and you learn that Salt Lake City is the capital of Utah. Ok, it’s easy to create an image for this one, but you get the point! This is what I came up with Matt:
Because you created your own drawing and used humor, you are more likely to remember this capital letter than try to memorize it. Your children can do the same! By teaching them the skill of taking notes in the form of pictures, you will have tapped into their strengths as visuospatial learners and given them a lifelong skill that will help them remember new information.
©Copyright 2005 held by Alexandra S. Golon. De Golon, AS (2005) If you could see the way I think: a handbook for visuospatial children, Denver: Visuospatial Resource.