You’ve probably heard that combining words with visuals helps you learn better. Indeed, the science backs it up. A landmark 2014 study by Mary Potter and colleagues at MIT confirmed that your brain can process entire images in just 13 milliseconds, faster than a single eye blink. For Australian students tackling everything from the NAPLAN to HSC or VCE exams, this isn’t just interesting, it’s practical. However, here’s what most people get wrong: they think dual coding means looking at pretty diagrams while reading text. It doesn’t. In reality, real dual coding requires you to actively translate information between formats. The learning happens in the translation, not in passive observation. This is the core principle: when you force yourself to convert verbal concepts into visual representations, you engage deeper cognitive processing that categorises, prioritises, and links information through multiple neural pathways. Here’s how to do it right.
Start With Active Translation, Not Passive Consumption
The biggest mistake people make is consuming pre-made visuals without creating their own. Typically, you look at an infographic in a textbook, nod along, and assume you’ve learned something. You haven’t. Instead, the power of dual coding lives in the act of creation. When you read a concept, whether it’s a Year 10 science process or a university economics theory, and then draw your own diagram, mind map, or flowchart, you’re forced to understand the relationships, hierarchies, and connections within the material. Consequently, this active translation demands that you identify what’s essential and how pieces relate to each other. To begin, start simple. Read a section of material, then close the book or document. Next, draw what you just read using shapes, arrows, and labels. Afterwards, compare your visual to the original text and refine your diagram based on what you missed. Importantly, this process reveals gaps in your understanding immediately. Put simply, if you can’t draw it, you don’t fully understand it.
Match Your Visual Format to Your Content Type
Not all visuals work for all information. Therefore, choosing the right format amplifies your learning. To help you select the right tool for the job, here’s how common Australian curriculum content maps to specific visual formats: Hierarchies (e.g., Biology classifications): Use mind maps to show branching relationships and subtopics. The radial structure mirrors how your brain naturally organises related concepts. Processes (e.g., how a bill becomes law in Australian Parliament): Use flowcharts to highlight sequential steps and decision points. These force you to identify the order of operations and critical junctures. Systems (e.g., the water cycle, ecosystem interactions): Use diagrams to illustrate spatial relationships and cause-and-effect connections that text alone obscures. Data (e.g., economic trends, population statistics): Use graphs and charts to reveal patterns, correlations, and anomalies in quantitative information. Ultimately, the key is intentional selection. Ask yourself: What’s the inherent structure of this information? Then choose the visual format that best represents that structure.
Create Redundancy in Your Memory Pathways
Your brain stores verbal and visual information through different systems. As a result, when you encode the same concept through both channels, you create redundant retrieval routes. This redundancy matters more than you think. Research shows that visual aids can improve long-term retention by up to 60%, and verbal information gets forgotten twice as fast as visual information. Thus, when you combine both modalities, you’re not just adding, you’re multiplying your chances of recall. Here’s the practical application: after creating your visual representation, write a brief verbal summary that describes what your diagram shows. Then review both together. As a result, this dual review reinforces both pathways simultaneously. Consider this scenario: if one pathway becomes inaccessible during recall, maybe you blank on the exact wording, your brain can access the visual memory instead. You remember the layout, the spatial relationships, the colours you used. Often, that visual trigger unlocks the verbal information you thought you’d forgotten.
Build Your Visuals in Layers
Don’t try to create the perfect, complete visual representation on your first attempt. Instead, build complexity gradually. Start with the core concept by drawing the main idea in the centre or at the top. Then add the first layer of supporting details and review. Next, add the next layer of connections or sub-concepts and review again.
This layered approach serves two purposes:
First, it prevents overwhelm since complex topics become manageable when you build them piece by piece. Second, it mirrors how understanding actually develops. You don’t grasp everything at once. Rather, you start with the big picture, then fill in details as your comprehension deepens. Indeed, a 2024 study with fifth-grade students demonstrated statistically significant academic achievement gains when dual-coding strategies were implemented compared to traditional teaching methods. For Australian educators working within the Australian Curriculum’s emphasis on multiple literacies and differentiated learning, this approach aligns perfectly with contemporary teaching frameworks and the Science of Learning movement promoted by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). Significantly, the students didn’t create perfect visuals immediately, but instead built understanding through iterative visual construction.
Use Colour and Spatial Arrangement Strategically
Your visual system processes colour and spatial relationships automatically. Consequently, use this to your advantage. For instance, assign consistent colours to categories or types of information. If you’re mapping a process, use one colour for inputs, another for actions, and a third for outputs. This colour coding creates an additional layer of organisation that your brain processes without conscious effort. Additionally, spatial arrangement also carries meaning. Place related concepts near each other and use distance to show weak or strong relationships. Furthermore, position more important ideas centrally or prominently, as your brain naturally interprets these spatial cues. Remember, the goal isn’t artistic beauty. Rather, the goal is functional clarity that leverages how your visual system naturally works.
Review Both Formats Together
The final step that most people skip: deliberate dual review. Don’t just look at your diagram or reread your notes. Instead, review them simultaneously. Look at your visual while reading the verbal description, explain the diagram out loud using words, and switch back and forth between formats. Through this process, the integrated review strengthens the connections between your verbal and visual memory systems. Essentially, you’re training your brain to move fluidly between both representations, making either one accessible as a retrieval cue for the other.
To maximise this layered approach, follow the 1-2-7 Rule:
Day 1: Read the text and draw a visual from scratch without looking back at the material.
Day 2: Look at your visual and write a paragraph explaining it, again without looking at the original text. This reveals whether you truly understood the concept.
Day 7: Redraw the visual from memory and compare it to your Day 1 version to identify “knowledge leaks,” gaps where information has faded. Over time, this spaced, alternating practice builds robust memory structures that resist forgetting and are primed for high-stakes exam retrieval.
The Real Power Lives in the Doing
Ultimately, dual coding works because it forces active engagement with material. You can’t passively consume your way to deep understanding, whether you’re preparing for ATAR exams, TAFE assessments, or university assignments. Rather, you have to translate, create, and build. Moreover, the translation between verbal and visual formats demands that you understand relationships, hierarchies, and connections. This deep processing creates the kind of learning that transfers to new contexts and survives under pressure, exactly what Australian students need when facing high-stakes assessments. To get started, begin small. Take one concept you’re currently learning and create a simple visual representation. Don’t aim for perfection, but instead aim for understanding. Then build from there. Your brain already has two powerful processing systems. Ultimately, dual coding just teaches you to use both of them intentionally.
