Study Tips For Different Types of Learners

Many people believe that they fall into 1 of the 4 categories of learners: visual, auditory, reading/ writing and kinaesthetic. While it is beneficial to use multiple types of learning techniques and our preferences may change (Nancekivell et al, 2020), these are some study tips for you if you prefer visual learning methods!

Active recall

Using flashcards can be useful to help retain information better. Flashcards can allow you to better make associations between concepts (Podoliak, 2021), and have been found to be effective in helping people pick up technical words (Yüksel et al, 2020). 

Summaries 

Making visual summaries can also help consolidate information. Mindmaps or flowcharts that are colour coded allow you to easily see the interlinking ideas. Combining key words and diagrams make mindmaps an effective memory tool as it highlights the main point of each concept effectively. Mindmaps may also increase interest and motivation in learning, and even improve critical thinking (Wu & Wu, 2020) and metacognitive skills (Astriani et al, 2020). 

Colour coding

You can consider assigning a specific colour to each topic/ subject to help you categorise your information more effectively. Colour coding may also be applied to previous strategies such as the flashcards and mindmaps. Colour coding allows you to see relationships between concepts more clearly, as colours act as a categorisation tool (Baumgartner, 2019). Colour coding can also be used to flag important concepts for quick reviews, as it captures attention and is stimulating for visually-inclined learners (Liu et al, 2021). 

This list is non-exhaustive, and remember to use what is good for you! Happy studying! 

Written by: Grace

02/2024

References

Astriani, D., Susilo, H., Suwono, H., Lukiati, B., & Purnomo, A. R. (2020). Mind mapping in learning models: A tool to improve student metacognitive skills. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 15(06), 4. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v15i06.12657  

Baumgartner, M. (2019, December). 5 tips for color-coding your notes | study.com. https://study.com/blog/5-tips-for-color-coding-your-notes.html  

Liu, Y., Ma, W., Guo, X., Lin, X., Wu, C., & Zhu, T. (2021). Impacts of Color Coding on Programming Learning in Multimedia Learning: Moving toward a Multimodal methodology. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.773328 

Nancekivell, S. E., Shah, P., & Gelman, S. A. (2020). Maybe they’re born with it, or maybe it’s experience: Toward a deeper understanding of the learning style myth. Journal of Educational Psychology, 112(2), 221–235. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000366  

Podoliak, M. (2021). Unconscious memory in acquiring new vocabulary using flashcards. East European Journal of Psycholinguistics, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.29038/eejpl.2021.8.2.pod  

Wu, H.-Z., & Wu, Q.-T. (2020). Impact of mind mapping on the critical thinking ability of clinical nursing students and teaching application. Journal of International Medical Research, 48(3), 030006051989322. https://doi.org/10.1177/0300060519893225 

Yüksel, H. G., Mercanoğlu, H. G., & Yılmaz, M. B. (2020). Digital Flashcards vs. Wordlists for Learning Technical Vocabulary. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 35(8), 2001–2017. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2020.1854312