How Images and Design Impact Child Education

We manage to ruin one of the most important parts of people’s lives.

Child education is the time when foundations must be lain. Unfortunately these foundations are often flawed.

Teachers struggle to accurately communicate new concepts. Children are bored instead of amazed at new information.

There are people who experience more successful teaching. Often additional mediums are mentioned as being effective.

Humans are made to enjoy many senses. Why do we expect children to simply read and listen?

The use of images during child education can add benefits for both students and educators. I believe these should be incorporated more in the design of literature and learning materials.

Why do Visual Tools Result in Success?

This approach isn’t simply to keep lazy or bored children happy.

It’s proven that people’s brains develop throughout their adolescent years. Some children may simply not have the capacity to grasp concepts yet. Adding images invariably make it clearer.

Certain individuals do learn easier via visual stimulation. It’s a fact that no two humans’ thought patterns function the same. Why do we expect children to respond similarly in a classroom?

Here are a few thoughts on how images can complement the classroom. I believe we must move towards more user friendly classrooms for all.

1. It Creates Expectation

Benefits start even before educators start a class. The setup of a classroom can become more inviting through image use.

Imagine a classroom with attention grabbing images. Images should be selected in line with lesson plans.

Children in awe of the beautiful or interesting images will become curious.

Being curious readies the brain to receive information. A class full of expectant children is more fun to teach than listless kids.

Already the experience is more beneficial to teachers and learners.

2. It Creates Engagement

Children love giving their opinion. When children respond to questions they learn more. Responsiveness makes a class more enjoyable for all.

But who wants to answer boring questions?

What about asking an opinion about a picture? This can be applied to many subjects.

3. It’s the Shortcut

Images can be your secret tool to influence your students.

Visual stimulation has an effect on the brain whether you’re conscious of it or not.

Part of this is because we’re all lazy. Our brains look for the easiest ways of gaining information. Visual impulses are stronger and easier to digest.

This is a shortcut you—and your students—can use for their benefit.

Adding images to a classroom and learning materials sends messages to students’ brains. They will take in the information the images represent.

You’ll be surprised how much they recall when you start asking questions. They will be surprised too. This is a way of showing them how to study for tests.

4. It Aids Memory

This brings us to an important part of education. Tests and exams.

Children will learn easier if images form part of their work:

  • Images are recalled easier than facts or words. If images represent an answer—or contains an answer—it will be remembered faster than other items. Place images in learning material. Make sure they offer information. Your students will learn faster and do better in tests.
  • Images are anchors for other information. Imagine a page with a picture and facts. Those facts will be remembered and recalled easier than others. When a page only has text many children struggle to retrieve these facts from memory.

5. It Aids Comprehension

I briefly mentioned above how a picture can help explain facts. It’s a fact that images aid comprehension.

Once again this relates to many subjects.

You can help children comprehend:

  • Graphs
  • Ratios
  • Relationship between abstract concepts
  • Biological processes

Instead of asking them to decipher formulas and definitions simply draw pictures.

What I love about this feature is its many uses.

If only we can help students realize concepts are easier to understand through visual representation. Any concept they struggle with they can then try and draw. This is a way they can teach themselves and others.

In an age where younger generations struggle to think for themselves this will be an immense accomplishment.

6. Imaged Stories Help Learning Processes

In certain subjects such as history stories are part of the curriculum.

Few teachers realize the value of adding faces to these stories. Images can show characters that represent the story. Add emotions to these faces. Emotion is something any person automatically connects with.

Your students will remember the story and its facts because the emotions get lodged in their thoughts and act as anchors for facts.

7. Visual Learners Love it

You’ll always have different types of learners in a class.

You’ll have a happier class if your teaching caters for everyone present.

Certain students are visual learners. Their thoughts respond better to images than words or text. You’ll make their day if you add more images to their learning experiences.

More positive students learn quicker and behave better in class.

Do you see how this snowballs into an overall positive experience?

8. Images Cross Language Barriers

We live in a world with diverse cultures and backgrounds.

History has shown us how these differences can create emotional distance between people. Your images in class can cross these barriers.

Help students who don’t yet understand a language to grasp lessons. Images can convey a number of facts and messages.

Teach children about overcoming differences. Show them how to communicate via images when words fall short.

Images can assist teaching, learning and relationships in class.

9. Kinesthetics

It’s not only about the images you create.

Your students can add their own images to the pile. Through kinesthetic approaches your students can learn more through the activities they perform.

Part of these activities can be drawing pictures about what they learn. Using the creative part of their brains will retain more information than simply reciting words.

Looking at these facts I see only benefits. No matter how you approach learning images are beneficial. The experience, input and output can be improved. While corporate or educational institutions still waste time teachers can start making changes in their lesson plans today.