Thinking and Learning
Thinking in Pictures
Temple Grandin is famous for thinking in pictures and being able to create and play videos in her head. She has made a career out of this ability. But it does have drawbacks: abstract thinking is not easy (it requires a visual representation) and she cannot get her head around algebra.
Detail
Some people like to work with detail. They like to build the bigger picture from the detail. This focus enables them to see pitfalls and mistakes that are invisible to big picture thinkers. Consequently, they always want detail put onto outlines.
Big Picture
Big picture thinkers like to think strategically, but focusing on the problem as a whole. They work from the big picture down to the detail. They can struggle to understand someone who works from detail to the bigger picture.
Both Detail & Big Picture
A few people like to solve problems by working from the big pictures and from the detail simultaneously.
Logical Thinking
Most people are not very good at thinking logically. It has to be taught. However, autistic people have a reputation for logical thinking. This does not apply to all autistic people by a long way, but is a likely factor in why so many autistic people find a niche in technical roles.
Emotion
Emotion plays an important part in learning. It is much easier to learn something you find interesting. An enthusiastic teacher who knows how to make their subject interesting also helps. Emotion is very important for motivation and decision making.
Categories
Some people are very good at sorting things into categories. Other people are much less good at this. Some people struggle to sort into categories because, for them, items fit into more than one category.
Process
Some people love following a process, while others hate it. Most people are inbetween. It is interesting that some people like maths becuase it provides processes to follow to get to a solution. However, those who are best at maths at the highest levels are those who seek to fully understand.
Rote Learning
Rote learning is shallow learning which is just memorising of facts. There is no focus on understanding.
Deep Learning
Deep learning goes beyond memorising facts to understanding and being able to engage with the material for reflection, finding connections, and problem solving.
Concrete Thinking
Concrete Thinking is practical hands on thinking. It concerns things that can be touched and handled. Building and handling physical money, for example.
Abstract Thinking
Abstract Thinking concerns thinking about things that cannot be touched and handled. Economics and philosophy are examples of abstract subjects.
Out of the Box
Being able to think outside the box is necessary for solving problems in novel ways or to improvise the use of objects in different ways. It can mean being able to look at a situation or problem from different and unusual perspectives. Strangely, most academics are not good at this despite being active in research.
Gestalt
Gestalt thinking is having difficulty understanding something if it does not make a coherent whole. Pieces that do not connect are just so many facts that are not memorable. When they all connect and make a coherant whole they become memorable.
Pattern Thinking
Pattern thinkers perceive patterns. They can either link disparate areas via this patterns, or use the patterns to apply a solution to a new area (perhaps with modifications). Pattern thinking can also be used to create a kind of flexible template that can be used to solve related problems. Having a pattern can help you know what to do in a certain situation.
Systematising
People who are strong in systematising have a drive to analyse or construct rule-based systems. They tend to be found in science, technology and professions such as accountancy.
Visual Thinking
Visual thinkers like to visualise things when they think. This can be scenes, pictures, diagrams. Visual thinkers may be able to manipulate 3D objects in their heads, be good at efficient packing of diverse sizes and shapes of objects, and be able to visualise what something will look like when finished. Visual thinkers may like to create a diagram to aid their thinking.
Visual Learning
Visual learners like to learn with the aid of diagrams and visual aids rather than just from words. However, they may prefer to read something rather than just listen to someone talking without visual aids. Sometimes a visual learner will concentrate on speech better if they are visually occupied as well. This can be by looking at the mouth or by doing a simple visual task that does not require much brain power.
Aural Learning
Aural learners learn best by listening to information and/or via song. They can be frustrated by visual aids. They will likely appreciate audiobooks and find it easy to learn from them, especially if they are also verbal learners.
Aural Thinking
Aural thinkers think with sounds. Those who compose music and songs are likely to be aural thinkers. After he became deaf, Beethoven was still able to compose, even though he could hear only through bone conduction via his jaw and and a wooden stick on his piano. Aural thinkers often like to think outloud to help them reason through something.
Verbal Learning
Verbal learners like to learn with words. The words can generally be either written or spoken. Verbal learners can benefit from writing things out to aid learning.
Verbal Thinking
Verbal thinkers think with words. They may use writing or speaking outloud to help them reason through a problem. Verbal thinker tend to love playing with words and can become very good writers. Verbal thinkers may consider visual aids to be superfluous when explaining something.
Kinesthetic Learning
Some people prefer to learn via hands-on physical experience. This is the only way to learn dance, how to play a musical instrument and various trades such as bricklaying.
Kinesthetic Thinking
Kinesthetic thinking, is thinking via movement or hands on activity. An example would be design via building a model to scale. Parts of the model can be changed during the design. However, this kind of thinking isn’t restricted to practical problems. Manipulation of physical objects can help with the understanding of abstract problems too.
Nonlinear Thinking
Some people’s thinking is nonlinear, which means that they think about relationships between concepts. These relationships can be complex. This way of thinking is completely independent of whether someone’s thinking is visual or verbal, for example.
No Preference Learning
Some people have no preference regarding how they like to learn. They learn via all methods equally well. They choose the method most appropriate to what they want to learn.
No Preference Thinking
Some people are equally at home with many different kinds of ways of thinking. This gives them a flat cognitive profile and potentially makes them equally good at all academic subjects. They enjoy English just as much as Maths for example.
Geometrical Thinking
Geometrical thinking is thinking with shapes of various kinds and angles. This is helpful for solving practical problems involving geometry such as landscape gardening, but also for designing website, flyer layouts, etc.
Perceptual Thinking
Perceptual thinking is thinking and reasoning with perceptual memory. Thinking in pictures is an example of this. Thinking and reasoning with fragments of music to create a new composition would be another example.
Triggering Knowledge
Some people do not know what they know and this knowledge has to be triggered via a question or an event. This makes it difficult to generate knowledge on demand.
Perceptual Memory
Perceptual memory is memory of sensory information. People vary in which sensory information is retained. Some people remember smells, others don’t for example. Some people might be better at remember who said what during a meeting while others might need to link people to where they were sat.
Associative Memory
Associative memory is non-linear and multi-dimensional. This is one memory leading to another, which leads to another, etc. This kind of memory can be very distracting, especially when the memories have strong sensory components.
Associative Thinking
Associative thinking means following associations in a controlled way. That means examining several associations in turn and backtracking to ones that have not been examined. This kind of thinking can be very useful for brain storming and creative problem solving.
Experiential Learning
Experiencial learning is learning through trying things out, testing, reflecting and thinking about what would work better. It is learning through mistakes and discovering mistakes can lead to success. Everyone learns best through doing.
Sequencing
Some people have difficulty with sequencies of information. This is important for remembering and carrying out a sequence of instructions.
Visual Verbal Thinking
Visual Verbal Thinking is a kind of thinking with words, where the words are visual entities not connected to hearing. this can lead to someone being able to read and understand, but this creates a separate world to the real world. The person then has to learn to connect this visual word world to the real world.