Direction fields are a good way to visualize the solutions of a differential equation.
Since dydx=f(x,y), at each point (x0,y0) in the xy-plane we can draw a short line with slope f(x0,y0). This is called a direction field. A solution to the differential equation dydx=f(x,y) is then a curve that is everywhere tangent to the direction field.
Examples:
The direction fields of dydx=x+y,dydx=2x, and dydx=y,
are (respectively)
The following video goes over the details and shows
how to deduce information about the solutions of the corresponding differential equations.