Learning Better Through Documentaries

[The Penguin]

It took me many years to learn this, but I discover I learn much better from documentaries than reading books. Part of this relates to my language based learning disability which makes hard for me to read. Despite its standards for many schools to learn World War 1 and 2, I was not able to make sense of it until my adult life and when I gain interest watching documentaries. I think in my lifetime, I have watched 1500 documentaries on various topics. Sometimes if the topic really interests me, I may seek reading to get more information. But for the most part, documentaries are how I get educated about topics.

 

[Kari Suttle]

I've noticed that as well. Just reading about a topic, i either get bored quickly or just don't retain the information as well as if I watch a video on it, or am sitting in a lecture about it. I guess its the audio aspect of it? Both seeing and hearing the information, and being mentally more involved in the learning. That's how i see it anyways, for me.

 

[Zack]

This is a very interesting topic! I have also noticed that I struggle with language/auditory based learning. I absolutely love documentaries and tend to remember nearly everything I learn from them. I cannot say the same for books. Although I do enjoy reading, it often takes me an extremely long time to read something so that I learn it.

One time I was reading a comic out loud to my partner and he kept laughing at me because I would often misread lines (replacing the words with similar appearing words or simply skipping over them and only reading the key words of a sentence). I would often even say something that was the opposite of what was actually said or would improvise lines based on what I thought was happening in the picture. That was an interesting exploration into how my brain processes words differently.

I never struggled too much with lectures in school (unless there was no powerpoint going along it or the professor didn't write things on the board). Taking notes when reading or listening REALLY helps my retention of information. I have to be a list-maker if anything is to be accomplished.

 

[AsheSkyler]

When it comes to nature, I learn much better through documentaries. Knowing a cat can run so many miles per hour is interesting data, but seeing how their body coils and springs and how it quickly it launches them past the grass solidifies it better.

 

[SameStars]

Books offer me more background information, of which not everything makes it into a documentary. Documentaries feel less reliable to me because of that, but they do have an extra impact with their imaginary. I also learn better visually, so documentaries do appeal to me and help me connect more with the material.