Visual students don’t usually test well and may even struggle with test anxiety. Right brain, visual-spatial individuals are conceptual, non-linear thinkers and they often miss details, struggle with memorization and prefer images over words. But there are always going to be tests at school and we need to help our visual kids conquer their test […]
I love the way visual kids express themselves, learn problem solving, see multiple solutions to problems – and the impact the arts have on developing minds. Meet Terra. She makes me want to be 16 again.
Terra is the head of the Menomonee Falls High School art department and I want to be a student in her classes. Recently I had a tour of the art classrooms, saw student work and enjoyed Terra’s classroom stories and favorite assignments.
As parents, we have a vested interest in understanding the nuances of left and right-brain thinking. A child’s ability to learn is directly affected by the way their brain sees and processes information. Knowing if your child is an auditory, visual or kinesthetic learner will enable you to choose activities that support their learning needs, while working to develop their weaker areas. Click HERE to take our quiz and find out if your child is a VISUAL learner!
I have enjoyed watching my grandson Brayden grow and manage tasks more independently and to help him, we keep his room well organized and easy to navigate. We also use lists and charts for certain tasks. But when working with kids, and many adults, it helps to make the lists visual.
I have shared lots of stories and strategies for teaching visual kids, but even adult learners need things to be more visual. Here’s a story about my time in a college statistics class, overwhelmed by the language and computation, until it became more visual.
This morning I was looking on line to see what kind of things are being done in elementary schools, to teach math visually and came across this video; Teaching Math Without Words: A Visual Approach to Learning Math Through Software.
In the video Dr. Matthew Peterson shares some great insights on why the current language heavy approach to teaching math is not working, especially for children that learn visually and conceptually. In answer to these challenges, their group, The Mind Research Institute has developed math-learning software to use in the classroom and is yielding impressive results. This video includes examples of their software – which I must admit – move way too fast for me to fully grasp. But when seeing the children working and discussing, in front of their computers, the programs seem to move at a pace that invites engagement and understanding.
I’ve gathered an assortment of fun activities to keep your kids busy. There are activities you can do In the House and activities that are Out of the House. And within each category, there are things kids can do independently and things to do as a family. You could even get a bit of mom time in!