Graphically Speaking a Thousand Words

When making my school projects I was always told to keep in mind that "A picture speaks a thousand words". Why should we let all those words get redundant if there is a better way? When I was younger, I remember wishing that somebody would turn all those lines of words in my books into pictures. My teachers would often come to class with charts which filled our entire class with an interest in studies. These were simple enough for us to comprehend and very colorful. What I liked most about them, however, was that they made learning fun.

Today, my kids have started studying long lines of words. I have been trying to teach them to use flowcharts and matrices and make their student lives just a little less complicated. They really relish the time that they spend using their crayons and making their charts brighter and prettier.

Of course, more than being fun, graphic organizers of all kinds help develop learning. They put the accent on on the important features in a particular subject of study. They reveal the patterns and associations that exist between a number of different aspects. If you are finding it difficult to grasp the elements of causality between a number of aspects, a graphic organizer makes that easier to understand too.

Brainstorming is made a whole lot less complicated when one tries to use charts and diagrams to pictorially represent the various ideas that emerge at various points of time. Most of the ideas that emerge at brainstorming sessions tend to appear rather random. So, it is a good idea to graphically represent the various associations between concepts so as to avoid confusion. If one does this right from the beginning, as the volume of ideas grows, the element of confusion will be inhibited somewhat. So whether it is likeness or antagonism or causality, maintaining a graphic organizer will make life a whole lot less puzzling for you.

The current age is very different from earlier periods when when we had to sit down with our pencils and erasers, rubbing out older lines as new developments emerged. These days both children and grown-ups can gain from computerized graphic organizers. A simple click of the mouse and a little dragging will allow you to make variations of all kind to your chart. So whether you are looking for an less puzzling way to study new concepts or are simply trying to thoroughly stud the information that you have collected, graphic organizers are usually a great help.

Of course, for those of us that are not technologically inclined, it is sensible to opt to stick to the good old crayons and sticky notes. However you may use those charts, make those pictures speak for you.

Ajeet Khurana recommends that you find out more by reading: Graphic Organisers, Flowcharts and Decision Making, and Software.