Organising information visually

Organising information visually makes use of images and keywords, together with space, dimension, colour and movement (through arrows and other symbols) to organise information, generate ideas, make connections, see 'the whole picture', understand, remember and generally enhance thinking and learning. Tools commonly used include flow charts, diagrams, and mind maps.

When the brain is given information in both words and images, it can understand it better than when it is given in just images or just words, since this makes use of both sides of the brain together.

The brain deals with new knowledge by looking for something it already knows to connect it to. The use of a visual organiser can help link the existing knowledge to the new knowledge being presented.

Working memory has a maximum capacity for information it can process at a given time. If too much information is given, learning does not take place. Through visual organisers, more working memory is freed for learning new material.

Information organised in categories and in order of importance is more easily understood and remembered.

To come up with keywords, the work has to be understood on a single-concept level. This level is usually easily reached by students. Once the keywords are put into a mind map, they make the higher concepts and relationship of one piece of information to another explicit. This helps the student to understand on a deeper level and allows for analytic thinking. Something understood and reasoned out can be remembered and used much more especially when it comes to exams.

Like many visual techniques, this strategy can help anyone improve their learning and thinking skills; however, it is a crucial tool for all those students and adults who are primarily visual learners and thinkers and are presently drowning in a sea of verbal information.