Text vs Visual Learning
It's hard to say. Is text or visual media better?
Ages ago we were taught that reading made you smart
and that the imagination could paint more pictures than
words. They were right. Read a novel and each reader
sees the details in a different way. If the author says
something like "the abandoned island was lush and green,"
the reader relates this scene to something he or she has
encountered in their experiences.
Now we come across an age in the internet where
visual media is changing the way education conducts its
business. Students are learning in remarkable new ways.
There are definite advantages but are we leaving behind
the mental discipline obtained from textual learning,
books?
Let me give you an example. Oh the anguish trying to
figure out how to repair your car using an auto repair
manual. Some are poorly indexed, cram to much
information into a sentence, and references in the text
to those little numbers in the pictures use different
words and don't match. Then I went to YouTube and saw a
video of how to do the repair I was researching. WaLa!
It all became so clear. Less data but the right way to
fix my car, sans torch specs. If I was a nubee however,
I may have not noticed the mechanic in the video did not
use an air compressor to blow out the brake dust, a
warning given boldly in the text. Plus there's
experience with easing stuck bolts, cleaning parts,
storing parts, etc. that would all have to be additional
videos. And if I watch those videos will I remember them
as well as if I had to work to acquire the information
through text and reading?
Over time the mental discipline of assembling data for
ourselves streamlines overall comprehension. I was
fortunate to get a job as a tow truck driver without any
experience. The company offered training. One of the
most important aspects of the job was knowing where
addresses were, without looking them up. The experienced
drivers refused to use GPS and insisted I use a map book,
the old fashioned way. It was even more urgent, from
their instruction, that new drivers learn the area and
know addresses without using any reference. Many of the
drivers were quite proud of their ability to carry an
instantaneous map of the entire state, in their heads.
It enabled them to respond faster than if someone who had
to look up address or key in data for the GPS unit.
