Galaxy : Explore the Universe from your home

The Galaxy is a web application that was built with helping children better understand their universe when learning science, we call it visual thinking.
Visual thinking is a learning style where the learner better understands and retains information when ideas, words and concepts are associated with images.

Visual learning helps students organise and analyse information, integrate new knowledge and think critically. Graphic animations, diagrams and outlines are just some strategies of visual learning.

There are three types of learners among children:
• Auditory Learners: They tend to benefit most from traditional teaching techniques. Many teachers use a lecture-style forum, presenting information by talking to their students.
• Visual Learners: Some students rely upon a visual learning style: “Show me and I’ll understand.” Visual learners benefit from diagrams, charts, pictures, films, and written directions.
• Kinesthetic Learners: Most of the school population excels through kinesthetic means: touching, feeling, experiencing the material at hand.

How does Visual Learning and the Galaxy benefit children?
• Galaxy helps students clarify their thoughts.
Students see how ideas are connected and realize how information can be grouped and organized. With visual learning, new concepts are more thoroughly and easily understood when they are linked to prior knowledge.
• Galaxy helps students organize and analyze information.
Students can use diagrams and plots to display large amounts of information in ways that are easy to understand and help reveal relationships and patterns.
• Galaxy helps students integrate new knowledge
According to research, students better remember information when it is represented and learned both visually and verbally.
• Visual learning helps students think critically
Linked verbal and visual information helps students make connections, understand relationships and recall related details.

As research in teaching methods continue, classrooms will integrate more of these techniques. Once students understand their learning styles, they can better adapt to their learning environment.
We at Galaxy are making this experience more accessible by combining cross-platform technology (HTML5) and User Experience pointers to make it simpler for our children to better experience and recall what they learnt.