Dual coding is a learning strategy that combines verbal information, such as words and explanations, with visual representations, such as diagrams, timelines, flowcharts and graphs, so that the same idea is stored in two connected forms.
How it works
According to dual coding theory, the mind processes verbal and visual information through partly separate systems. When you learn an idea both as words and as a picture, you create two linked memory traces, which gives you two ways to recall it. Visuals also make relationships visible: a timeline shows sequence, a flowchart shows cause and effect, and a labelled diagram shows structure in a way a paragraph cannot.
Dual coding works best when the visual represents the meaning of the content, not when it is decoration.
How to use dual coding (steps)
- Pick a concept or process. For example, the stages of mitosis or the causes of a war.
- Choose a visual format that fits. Timelines for sequences, flowcharts for processes, diagrams for structures, tables for comparisons, a mind map for overviews.
- Draw it with short labels. Keep words close to the parts they describe.
- Explain it aloud. Talk through the visual in your own words, linking it to the verbal explanation.
- Redraw from memory. Cover it and recreate it, then compare. This adds active recall.
- Combine with flashcards. Put a diagram on the back of a card or ask yourself to sketch a process as the answer.
Evidence
Allan Paivio developed dual coding theory in the late 1960s and 1970s, including in Imagery and Verbal Processes (1971), based on findings that concrete, easily imagined words are remembered better than abstract ones. Richard Mayer’s research on multimedia learning, summarised in Multimedia Learning (2001, with later editions), found across many experiments that people generally learn more deeply from words and relevant pictures than from words alone, provided the design avoids unnecessary detail. Dual coding is distinct from the idea of learning styles, which Pashler and colleagues (2008) reviewed and found lacked adequate supporting evidence.
Using dual coding with Duetoday
Duetoday can turn your lecture, PDF or YouTube notes into a mind map, giving you a visual version of the same material. Use it alongside the text notes, then try to redraw it from memory. You can also ask Galileo to describe a process step by step so you can sketch it as a flowchart.
