Visible thinking routines are effective tools in practical teaching

Students perform at the 60th edition of the annual Kenya Schools and Colleges Drama and Film Festival. [File]

Visible Thinking Routines (VTRs) are a series of steps that make complex thinking processes accessible to learners through the use of Visual Thinking. Visual Thinking is simply the process of thinking through visualisation. But what exactly makes VTRs effective? It's because of the interesting nature of humans -being visual thinkers. Our minds are designed to rapidly process and remember visual input. A well-designed visual image can generate a much more powerful, captivating and memorable learning experience than just a mere verbal or textual description. All students of all ages and types, including those specified as visual learners, can benefit from the use of VTRs in the classroom.