Teachers have a multitude of personalities in a classroom but are required to teach the same material to all of their students during the course of a school year. Some students get distracted easily while others have no trouble focusing. Is there a certain way to teach that can be applied so that all students will learn at an equal pace? It is no mystery to anyone who has ever tried to teach a room full of students that children (and adults) learn new material many different ways. Some people learn better by reading the material to be learned, while others learn better by watching either a video or a person actually performing the task to be learned. Is one way better than another? Is there an actual difference between these two methods of learning? Learning by reading and learning by watching are two different ways of learning, but is one method actually better than the other?
Research has discovered that reading uses one portion of the human brain, while watching uses a different portion. Although Dr. Margalit’s article was specifically aimed at the difference between using text or videos in online content, the use of videos on web sites such as YouTube have become commonplace in today’s educational environment. She makes the point that reading requires an active participation, “…a longer attention span and deeper cognitive efforts” as opposed to watching a video, which is passive and requires less energy and effort (Margalit, 2015).
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When we read, we are not just looking at words on a page. Our brains form mental pictures of those words and look for the meanings of words. When we watch a video, we aren’t putting any effort into the meanings of words because we are looking at pictures. Someone else is actually doing the work and we are just observers. However, both methods of learning are beneficial, depending upon the individual.
For example, some people have trouble grasping concepts in math. Looking at one plus one equals two on a piece of paper might seem logical but make no sense to certain individuals. Watching a video that shows the equation along with pictures of blocks under the equation makes addition easier to understand because the math problem is no longer just an abstract idea; it is something concrete and logical. One block plus one block equals two blocks. Children understand that.
Similarly, reading an article on how to change the oil in one’s car might make perfect sense to one individual but seem like a foreign language to another. Actually watching another person under the hood of a car, watching that person unscrew the oil filter, drain the oil, replace the filter, and replace the old oil with new can make an indelible impression on the learner.
Additionally, some people prefer reading because they can learn at their own pace. They can go over the material and re-read it if they don’t understand it the first time. When people watch a video, especially in a classroom setting, the video might progress either too slowly or too quickly for some and result in the viewer zoning out. Watching another person actually perform a specific task, however, and explain step by step what is happening is quite different than just watching a video deliver information. Questions can be asked and answered while the task is being performed, which definitely assists in learning.
Overall, learning is a complex activity that requires active participation and cognitive effort on the part of the learner. However, since not all people are the same, not all people learn by using the same methods. For some people, reading is the way that they learn best. For others, watching is their preferred method of learning. And for some, it is a combination of both, first reading and then watching to reinforce what they read. Each person is his or her own unique individual and learns at his or her own pace, utilizing the method that best suits him or her. So it is truly impossible to say which technique is really better, reading or watching. Learning is an individual experience and students should approach how to learn as a learning experience itself.
- Margalit, Ph.D., Liraz. “Video vs. Text: The Brain Perspective.” Psychology Today 01 May 2015. Web. 24 April 2016.
