Foldables ™ and
Reading Comprehension
Katherine Rydzy
What is a Foldable™?
• A Foldable™ is a three dimensional graphic
organizer created from paper that assists
students while learning.
• It does not rely on photocopied templates,
leaving students to apply their own structure
to the organizer.
• It has been proven to improve students’
attitude and facilitate learning (Casteel and
Narkawicz, 2006).
• “Through the years there have been certain
elements of continuity that never vanishpaper, pencils, scissors, and glue have
always been available…” -Dinah Zike
Benefits of Graphic Organizers
• Helps students see the connections among
different items of information
(Davis and McPherson, 1989, Fisher,
Zike, & Frey, 2007)
• Consistent with our knowledge of brainbased learning and visual-kinesthetic
learning styles
• Serve as a note taking aid because they
allow students to externally store
information
(Fisher, Zike, & Frey, 2007)
(Katayama & Robinson, 2000)
Additional Benefits:
(Davis and McPherson, 1989)
• Create active readers that self-monitor for
comprehension
• Integrate literal and implicit information
• It has been proven that instruction in GOs
improves comprehension, even when GO
use has been discontinued
Even More Benefits:
(Kirylo, 2000)
• Connects reading and writing as meaning
making activities
• Learning becomes more meaningful while
rote instruction is reduced
Elements of Effective Use
• Students must be familiar with a variety of
GO forms in order to select one that suits
their needs in a given situation
(Fisher, Zike, & Frey, 2007)
– Forms should be concise, coherent, and
coordinated (Mayer, et. al, 1996)
– Connect prior knowledge and new knowledge
• GO use should promote interaction among
students
(Kirylo & Millet, 2000)
Casteel and Narkawicz Study (2006)
• Followed the use of Foldables™ in a third
grade social studies classroom using a
quasi-experimental method
• Findings: the use of Foldables™ brought
about a positive increase in the affective
domain for students while maintaining the
same level of learning as a traditional
approach to instruction.
Anecdotal Notes from the Study:
• Students began to apply the use of foldables
across the curriculum without instruction to
do so.
• Teachers reported fewer discipline
problems, higher student engagement, and
better student attitudes when working with
Foldables™.
• All comments (from teachers and students)
in relation to Foldables™ were positive.
Sample Materials
•
•
•
•
•
Leftovers
MiniBook
Layered look book
Circle stand
Matchbox book
Types of Folds
Hamburger
Hotdog
Mountain
Valley
Shutter
Burrito
Taco
Try it Out!
• 1 Cut Book
• Venn Diagram
• Pyramid
How could you use this in your
classroom?
Web Resources
•
•
•
•
www.dinah.com
www.dzacademy.com
http://foldables.wikispaces.com
http://www.catawba.k12.nc.us/C_i_resource
s/Foldables.htm (examples of student work)
• http://www.mswinston.com/fold.pdf (PDF
of a Foldables™ book
References
•
•
•
•
•
•
Casteel, D.B., and Narkawicz, M.G. (2006). Effectiveness of Foldables™ Versus
Lecture/Worksheet in Teaching Social Studies in Third Grade Classrooms. Forum on Public
Policy.
Davis, Z.T., McPherson, M.D. (1989). Story map instruction: A road map for reading
comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 43. 232-40.
Fisher, D., Zike, D., & Frey, N. (2007). Foldables: Improving Learning with 3-D Interactive
Graphic Organizers. NCTE: Classroom Notes Plus. 1-12.
Katayama, A. D., & Robinson, D. H. (2000). Getting students “partially” involved in note-taking
using graphic organizers. Journal of Experimental Education, 68, 119-133.
Kiryo, J.D., Millet, C.P. (2000). Graphic organizers: an integral component to facilitate
comprehension during basal reading instruction. Reading Improvement, 37(4). 179-86.
Mayer, R. E., Bove, W., Bryman, A., Mars, R., & Tapangco, L. (1996). When less is more:
Meaningful learning from visual and verbal summaries of science textbook lessons. Journal
of Educational Psychology, 88(1), 64-73.
Zike, D. (1992). Big Book of Books. San Antonio: Dinah-Might Adventures, LP.