Overheard a student say 'I learn better from YouTube than my textbooks' at the library

I was at the campus library grabbing a book for a friend and heard two students talking near the stacks. One said she watches 15 minute videos to understand chemistry instead of reading the 500 page textbook. It made me wonder if we are putting too much focus on written resources when so many people learn visually now. Has anyone here tried swapping out a textbook chapter for a video series and seen better results?

2 comments

2 Comments

ellis.jennifer23d ago

The thing about YouTube videos is they can show you exactly what's happening in real time, which is huge for things like chemistry reactions or math problems where you need to see the steps laid out. I had a friend who was failing organic chemistry until she started watching this one channel that broke down mechanisms with animations and color coding. Textbooks just give you static diagrams and paragraphs that assume you already know the basics. Plus with videos you can pause, rewind, and watch at 1.5x speed if the person talks too slow, which is way easier than flipping back through pages trying to find that one specific explanation. That said, I think textbooks are still good for reference material when you need to look up a specific formula or concept quickly, but for actually understanding something from scratch? Videos win hands down.

julia_hayes22d ago

Remember reading a study not too long ago that said something like 65% of people are visual learners and need to see things in action to really get it. Makes complete sense to me because I grew up in the era of textbooks and still struggled with biology until I found an old VHS tape at the library that actually showed the heart pumping blood. That one video did more for me than three chapters of reading ever did. The problem is that schools and universities are still stuck on the idea that reading is the only serious way to learn, but watching a well made video is just as valid for understanding complex topics. I think the real benefit is that videos let you see someone work through a problem step by step, which is something a textbook can never fully capture.

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