Better understanding and being understood – students visualizing in school?
Hand-drawn designs are currently very popular in business and workshops.
For both teachers and students, small drawings can positively influence the learning process. Graphic recordings accompany group processes and events, while sketchnotes allow students to individually capture their own insights.
To get started with this topic, here is a very inspiring video from a TED Talk with Sunny Brown.
More and more industries are discovering the value of using simple diagrams to explain complex concepts. In some cases, university teachers and their students are also getting involved.
But where are the young learners from primary and lower secondary school?
“This is where we should start,” is a sentiment increasingly heard from teachers, parents, and experts.
When researching this topic, one primarily finds ideas for teachers to optimize their own visualizations or blackboard presentations. That's a good start. Even better would be to introduce the topic to schools in a way that empowers students to actively participate and take ownership of their own learning process.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if students learned visual language to better understand or absorb learning content? This should particularly help them to better grasp processes and complex situations.
“Everyone should have the confidence to try it!” says Nina Neef, who is already very active on this topic and encourages people on her YouTube channel to try their hand at knowledge topics with small drawings.
Nina Neef wants to encourage everyone to develop their potential. She is particularly passionate about supporting women and young people. She taught at the Berlin School of Economics and Law and has supported ACT eV, a theater project promoting self-empowerment in Berlin, since 2015.
"Someone who believes in you can have a decisive influence on your life. I have been fortunate enough to meet such encouraging people and I want to pass that on from the bottom of my heart."
More information at: Nina Neef
"Everyone should have access to it and learn how visualization works. That's why I started creating these short videos. The ideas from graphic recording and sketchnoting that I compiled there were initially intended to help my students get an overview for themselves in order to better absorb the learning material."
Nina Neef originally comes from a marketing background, so working with images and expressing herself through them is second nature to her. It was only when she became a lecturer that she realized this wasn't always the case, as students often struggle to enrich information with images to better understand complex topics.
For her, visualization is the translation of complex topics. It helps make elite knowledge accessible to everyone. Empowerment occurs through drawing. Translating into images leads to understanding.
“Drawing also releases emotions,” she explains further, “it’s good for the soul and touches people. All people. THAT is inclusion for me, because visual language integrates everyone. Visual language is universal.”
She draws on her own childhood experience: "For me, painting is about putting the world in order!"
For Nina, this means organizing and understanding something. "Once you've written it down, it's there, on the page, you can understand it, and seeing something familiar is reassuring." That makes sense and sounds good, especially for topics that don't come easily to the students.
"If I can grasp it as an image, then it's harmless and comprehensible." – Sounds logical!
The same applies to the learning contexts of complex learning content. Why shouldn't one simply try to visualize them?
The barrier to entry is low: all you need is a sheet of paper and a pen. But it's simply more fun with nice materials. This is where the many markers come into play, allowing students to really let their creativity flow.
This applies not only to art lessons, but especially to all other subjects in which there is something to learn and understand.
"With my work, I especially want to get teachers on board, because they have such an enormous influence on the lives of our children."
What do I wish for?
"If this blog post inspires many teachers to engage in visualization with children, then I think that's amazing!"
My super special tip in case teachers are suddenly looking for inspiration:
"The sketchnote books by Mike Rohde . Here you will find a complete, proven concept that you can get started with immediately."
By the way:
Anyone looking for a comprehensive reference work should take a closer look at Bikablo® . The name says it all, because Bikablo provides a comprehensive picture card block – a collection of all symbols and images for learning and applying visualization.
Bibi Rosa also wants children to keep drawing. But who exactly is Bibi Rosa?
Photo credit: Bibi Rosa – Photographer: Rebecca Meyer
She believes that the ability to draw is an essential part of life and communication. Children need a toolbox of methods to express themselves, and visualization is definitely one of them. Listening, processing, drawing.
"It would be great if children from first grade onwards learned to process content for themselves and others using simple symbols, writing and a few colors in a large format. Currently, children tend to stop drawing around the age of 8 or 9 because it is no longer encouraged or required at school."
Behind Bibi Rosa is Sandra Bach, she has been self-employed in Weimar for 8 years and also lives there.
She is trained as a communication designer, moderator and business trainer and has been giving workshops, further education courses and training for children, teenagers and adults in the field of comic drawing, flipchart design and visualization in general for 15 years.
She named her passion project Bibi Rosa, like the female version of Bob Ross, the painter. Only firmly rooted in the here and now, but visually similarly quirky.
"The impetus for this project was my two-year involvement with the German Children and Youth Foundation in Saxony-Anhalt, where I supported the LiGa – Learning in All-Day Schools program with a focus on 'Digitally Networked Learning', using graphic recording. The input was immense, and I realized that there needs to be more products that effectively guide children through the digital age using simple means, helping them grow into competent adults. With my many years of experience in visualization, I thought: Wow, it would be so easy if everyone learned this from the start. I'm a huge fan of simple and effective strategies."
Bibi Rosa is working on ways for teachers and children to embark together on a visual learning journey through their lesson content on an equal footing.
Photo credit: Bibi Rosa – Photographer: Rebecca Meyer
Some of the very basic rules here are:
1.) First analog, then digital.
2.) Discover a few colors and their possibilities.
3.) Research and determine symbols and their meaning in your own context.
4.) There is no such thing as beautiful or ugly, only: recognizable or not.
5.) Acknowledge that everyone thinks and perceives things differently.
What do I wish for?
"Bibi Rosa would love to develop analog and digital products for teachers and learners. These should be designed for classroom use and for different areas of competence, and of course also be age-appropriate."
My practical tip for use in schools:
What has already worked really well are the great pens from Neuland, from the Neuland No.One® ArtMarker to the Neuland BigOne® – they have definitely passed their practical test.
Photo credit: Bibi Rosa – Photographer: Rebecca Meyer
You can find out more about Bibi Rosa here .
Psst! Have you seen our TopChart? It's an affordable tabletop flipchart made from high-quality display board. Perfect for working with students, for personalizing, and for flexible or mobile use.