BJU Press Blog

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How Children Learn: Words, Pictures, and Actions

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I am not a teacher—I’m an artist, a “picture person.” But when our third child, Christopher, finished kindergarten without knowing the alphabet, numbers, or colors, I was determined to help my son learn. During the summer, I made the letters of the alphabet from chenille wire and tried to teach him that way. It was like trying to communicate with someone who didn’t speak my language. But the shaping of the wires into letters did seem to help him learn.

I will never forget one day when I was beginning to get discouraged about helping Christopher understand the names of the colors. We were sitting at lunch, and I picked up an orange and said to him, “Do you know what this is?”

He replied, “An orange.”

I said, “OK, now what color is it?”

I could actually see the light go on in his little head. He said, “Orange!” Yes, he got it, and the other colors came more easily after that.

Later, I started using a reading program to help him learn some of the letter sounds. I remember that he had a hard time understanding how to pronounce the short i. A hand scratching an arm was pictured with the short sound as in itch. He got that—a difficult concept made easier by a picture. The Lord was helping me to see that the media most familiar to me—pictures and three-dimensional objects—made concepts clearer to Christopher.

I worked with Chris in the evenings to make up for what he had not grasped in the classroom. The Lord graciously provided me encouragement and help through knowledgeable people at BJU Press. I used BJU Press textbooks, kept a close watch on Chris’s assignments and tests, and communicated regularly with the classroom teachers.

One night Chris and I settled in to study for his Bible class. I wasn’t looking forward to the topic—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the wives, and the children. I personally have a difficult time studying the Old Testament because I can’t remember names. But there, in the Bible Truths worktext, was a family tree complete with small pictures of Bible-time men and women. I was reading aloud with him the names by the pictures—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob—and counting the sons—1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 sons. The twelve tribes of Israel! Seeing the names paired with the pictures and grouped as a family tree, Chris could make the connection (and both of us could remember the names). That was when I realized that art is a more effective teaching tool than I had thought.

In third grade Chris was tested for learning disabilities, but none were revealed. The tests did show, however, that he couldn’t process information given in a classroom setting when lecturing is the main method of presentation. I began to check into the ways people learn.

howchildrenlearnblogpost

Auditory learners learn best by hearing. I call them “word people.” Then there are visual learners, who learn by seeing and can actually visualize and remember things as pictures in their heads. They are what I had been referring to for years as “picture people.” Kinesthetic learners, the most difficult to teach in the traditional style, may be called “hands-on” or “action people.” Our son does learn best by actually doing things. His knowledge of cars comes, I’m sure, from the time he has physically worked on cars with his dad, who is an automobile mechanic. Ever since he was age ten, Chris has been able to do a great brake job!

In grade six, Chris received the B scholarship award. He began seventh grade with a good attitude about his studies. He receives help from teachers who understand how he learns, and I continue to work with him at home. His organizational skills have improved, he knows how long he must study, and he plans ahead for that time. Past successes have motivated Chris to keep striving. Those successes have also been a real encouragement to his teachers, including my husband and me!

After recognizing Chris’s specific approach to learning, I developed a list of techniques to use in helping my kinesthetic/visual-learner son. Perhaps they may help you with your children too:

  • Label pictures. The visual learner integrates the words with the picture, and he produces one unit in his brain. He will remember by actually seeing that grouping in his head. When I produced a diagram of a knight and his armor for Reading 6, I used what I had learned from helping our son. The diagram introduces unfamiliar terms so that the student will be able to read the accompanying story with understanding.
  • When making study guides, type important facts and names in bold.
  • Encourage highlighting while studying.
  • Make graphs.
  • Arrange events on a timeline so that the student can get the big picture.
  • Have middle school and high school students take notes while listening, in the books if possible. The act of writing the words and looking at them helps children to recall the information.
  • Group things together to study in little bites. For example, as Chris studied for a history test, the whole chapter of information overwhelmed him. I helped him to break down the chapter on the Renaissance into four groups: Writers, Arts and Music, the Church, Education. We used one piece of paper for each group. Drawing pictures where possible and highlighting important words allowed him to “see” the information in a logical order.
  • Use pictures that compare. A visual comparison will make a fact memorable. (For example, show the size comparison of two rockets with pictures.)

Interested in strengthening your child’s learning? Sign up for our homeschool email and receive more helpful teaching tips.

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Written by Kathy Pflug

There’s More Than One Way to Learn

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Math 3D cubes

While teaching a Bible club lesson to a group of children at a local elementary school, I noticed that a boy named Ryan was having a rather difficult time. He didn’t participate in songs, and he didn’t seem to get much out of oral lessons with visual presentations. He was rarely able to answer questions during discussion time.

Eventually, I tried a new approach. I wrote down individual Bible verses with a brief explanation of each. I allowed Ryan to read and contemplate the content on his own in a quiet area. Later that day during discussion time, Ryan was one of the most active students. He knew the answer to nearly every question I asked.

We tend to assume that colorful visuals and over-the-top presentations are the best ways to deliver information (and often that is the case given the short attention span of many young children). But this isn’t true for every child. Ryan needed quiet, distraction-free study time to focus. He also needed to read the material for himself.

Not all children absorb content the same way. Some receive information better when it’s presented visually, while others learn best from hands-on activities. Some children need to read the material themselves, and others need to listen. Incompatibilities between teaching and learning styles can be frustrating for homeschool families.

Some parents mistakenly believe that they have somehow failed to be good teachers. Others get tired of paying for homeschool curriculums that promise success but fail to engage their child. Some parents even begin to question their child’s development and capabilities.

It wasn’t my fault or the fault of the other teachers that Ryan didn’t understand the Bible lessons. It also wasn’t that Ryan was slower to grasp the concepts than the other children were. The mismatch between learning style and instruction strategy simply made learning nearly impossible for him.

Understanding your child’s learning style can reduce these frustrations and make the learning process easier.

What is my child’s learning style?

There are three main types of learning.

  • Auditory learners
    These children like to listen to content rather than reading it. Verbally reciting information might be a preferred study method. Background noise such as music may be helpful to some, while it might be a distraction to others who work best in a quiet place.
  • Hands-on learners
    Children with this learning style learn by touching and engaging in hands-on activities. They might have a hard time sitting still while studying. Writing down information could be helpful.
  • Visual learners
    Visual learners understand information best by reading, viewing a demonstration, and looking at graphics. Children who learn this way might get impatient while listening to an explanation.

Finding out which learning style describes your child often requires a trial-and-error approach. A child who is a visual or hands-on learner can work through the same math problem on paper many times and have the concept explained in text or orally over and over but still not understand the material.

If your child is struggling with a concept, change tactics and try a different approach until you find one that works. For a child struggling with basic math concepts, try using beans or other small objects to demonstrate the concept visually. Let the child work out the problem with his hands. You might be surprised how quickly things begin to click.

Once I know how my child learns, what should I do?

Be creative. Find ways to shape a lesson toward the way your child learns best. Print off pictures of people, maps, and, places while reading about history, geography, and Bible if your child is a visual learner. Use projects, games, and crafts if your child prefers hands-on learning.

When selecting textbooks for your child, be sure to consider his or her specific needs. Some textbooks take an approach that would only appeal to one style of learning. Others offer a wider approach. A child who learns visually would have a harder time benefiting from an text-based curriculum with no pictures or graphics. A child who needs hands-on practice would struggle with only visual textbooks.

Some textbooks such as BJU Press elementary math are designed to appeal to all styles. Attractive pictures and illustrations help the visual learner while included manipulatives provide a hands-on experience. Extra practice sheets are there for those who need to read and work out the problems individually. Textbooks like these help take the guesswork out of teaching for individual learning styles.

The most important thing to remember is to stay positive and keep at it. A critical requirement of homeschooling for both parent and child is confidence. Don’t lose confidence in yourself, and don’t let your child lose confidence. You’ll get there. When things do go right, always remember to commend not only your child but yourself as well for a job well done. Homeschooling is a learning experience for both of you.