Websites That Help Visual Learners

Visual learners understand and recall information best when it is presented in a visual manner, such as via written words, pictures and displays. Teachers should include such designs in lessons to best reach visual learners, and such learners benefit when they can revise material aimed at other styles into visual presentations. Both teachers and visual learners may find numerous websites to help make these changes easier.

While visual learners often experience greater success in writing than learners with other learning styles, they still may benefit from websites that help with grammar and organization. Because ESL students may have little command of the written or spoken language, websites that teach grammar to ESL learners often use visual bases, such as the ESL grammar exercises through VisualESL.com. The graphics and animated visuals make understanding and remembering the information easier for visual learners. Graphic organizers help students set up structure for papers and understand relationships between events in reading material. Various websites offer blank graphic organizers, like the one through the College of DuPage, to help visual learners prepare essays and organize their thoughts. (See Resources for further information on these topics.)

Science course work often contains hands-on components that make learning easier for visual learners, but some students need more graphics to understand the material, particularly those in online classes. Learningscience.org offers numerous Google programs to assist with such material. This page includes charts to illustrate flu trends, the Google Sky astronomy program to investigate the universe, links to specific branches of science such as physical or life science sites that offer interactive lessons, and links to other sites that use scientific concepts in creative and visual ways. The San Francisco museum Exploratorium dedicated to science engages visual learners with an online microscope station, with visuals and activities at the cellular level.

Utah State University developed a website that includes visual assistance for math concepts. Its National Library of Virtual Manipulatives gives pre-K through grade 12 lessons on numbers and basic math, algebra, geometry, measuring and probability with games and activities like mazes and interactive geographical figures for visual learners. Flash cards are often an effective learning tool for visual learners, and Scholastic magazine has created a flash card maker to allow learners to create cards with formulas or other mathematical concepts for easier learning. It also offers printable cards and worksheets to help learners of all ages with math ideas.

Tables, charts and other graphic representations help visual learners understand and retain information, so sites that help students create such materials may be helpful for other types of classes, as well. Seeing the relationships among events in history may be enhanced with the use of a timeline, such as the one students and instructors can make from the Center for Educational Resources. Add pictures and even movie and audio files to make the timeline interactive and appealing to visual learners. Learningscience.org also offers some tools like a ruler, stopwatch and graph creator that may be useful in a variety of courses. Even music learners may benefit from online visuals, such as those from Musictheory.net. Various calculators figure and graphically illustrate chords, intervals and the like to help visual learners see musical differences.