ADVANCE ORGANIZERS
Princess Anne Middle School
Instructional Strategies Training
April/May 2011
GENERALIZATIONS FROM MARZANO
Advance organizers should focus on what is
important as opposed to what is unusual.
 “Higher level” advance organizers produce deeper
learning than the “lower level” advance
organizers.
 Advance organizers can be very useful with
information that is not well organized.
 Different types of advance organizers produce
different results.

WHAT IS AN ADVANCE ORGANIZER?



An advance organizer is information that is presented
prior to learning and that can be used by the learner
to organize and interpret new incoming information
(Mayer, 2003).
The mind arranges and stores information in an
orderly fashion. New information about a concept is
filed into an existing framework of categories called
schemas that contains specific information about a
concept. So, when prior knowledge is retrieved, this
schema provides a framework on which to attach new
knowledge (Bromley, 1995).
If no previous knowledge is available, advance
organizers are used to give knowledge to the students
in order for this framework to be followed and new
information retained for recall and transfer.
WHY USE ADVANCE ORGANIZERS?


Advance organizers place the most
general and comprehensive ideas at the
beginning of a lesson and progress to
more structured and detailed
information. They can be useful devices
at the start of a unit, before a
discussion, before a question-answer
period, before giving a homework
assignment, before student reports,
before a video, before students read
from their textbook, before a hands-on
activity, and before a discussion of
concepts based on students' experiences.
THINK OF THEM AS APPETIZERS!
HOW ARE THESE OBJECTS LIKE ADVANCE
ORGANIZERS?
WHY USE ADVANCE ORGANIZERS?




An Advance Organizer helps to organize new
material by outlining, arranging and
sequencing the main idea of the new material
based on what the learner already knows.
Advance Organizers use familiar terms and
concepts to link what the students already
know to the new information that will be
presented in the lesson, which aids in the
process of transforming knowledge and
creatively applying it in new situations.
This process helps to embed the new
information into long term memory.
Advance Organizers don't have to be lengthy
or complex, just clearly understood and
related to the material.
RESEARCH SAYS…

Advance organizers, including graphic ones, help
students learn new concepts and vocabulary
(Stone, 1983). Presenting information graphically
as well as symbolically in an advance organizer
reinforces vocabulary learning and supports
reading skills. (Brookbank Grover, Kullberg, &
Strawser, 1999; Moore & Readence 1984).
WHAT IS A “DO THIS BECAUSE IT REALLY
HELPS” STRATEGY WITH ADVANCE
ORGANIZERS?

Give the students a clue!
Who says that what they are going to learn is a big
secret?
 Tell the students what the advance organizer will
help them to do—it’s okay to let them know about
brain science!

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF
ADVANCE ORGANIZERS?

Expository Advance Organizers


Narrative Advance Organizers


present information to students in story format
Skimming as a Form of Advance Organizer


describe the new content to which students are to be
exposed
present information for students to skim over to get a
sense of “what’s coming down the pike”
Graphic Advance Organizers

Non-linguistic representations can be used effectively
as advance organizers to help students think about
new knowledge before experiencing it
NARRATIVE ADVANCE ORGANIZER
Listen to the story I am going to tell you.
 Think about how you might organize this
information—what connections can you make?

EXPOSITORY ADVANCE
ORGANIZERS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmCGQWfBMU&NR=1
 Here is an example of using a YouTube video as
an expository advance organizer. Several science
classes deal with severe weather and the
preparation for and aftermath of these storms.
How could watching a two-minute video of
someone describing new (future) content help
students to start organizing information?
 How would you debrief the students after the
video to help them organize the information if
your purpose was for the students to begin
thinking about what to do to prepare for a severe
weather emergency?

SKIMMING AS A FORM OF ADVANCE
ORGANIZER

Skimming information
before reading can be a
powerful form of advance
organizer.
List of facts
 Photos
 Maps


Skimming can help students
become familiar with some of
the patterns of information
that they will soon learn
more in depth.
SKIM THESE PICTURES TO ORGANIZE YOUR
EXISTING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT HOW TO
PREPARE FOR A TORNADO
GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
Refer back to last month’s training on graphic
organizers! Many examples are located on the
wikispace for down-loading. Several are useful
as advance organizers.
 The key is to make sure the non-linguistic
representation model you choose will be the best
instructional choice for the purpose of using an
advance organizer.

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER AS AN ADVANCE
ORGANIZER
Chain of Events
 Draw and write!

CONNECTIONS TO ASSESSMENT

How can you use advance organizers for
formative assessment purposes?






What do my students already know about the topic?
What connections are they already making?
What gaps in knowledge or experience are they
lacking?
What does this tell me about what needs to be
changed in my upcoming lessons?
Where can I save time because the students already
know this?
What vocabulary terms do they already know?
Ticket Out of the Room: Reflection on Learning
Teacher Name: _____________________________________________________
Session: Advance Organizers
Date: ____________________________________________________________
With respect to our work today, please reflect on the following:
1. What changes might I make in my
classroom related to use advance
organizers?
2. In what ways can my PLC use
advance organizers as we plan our
units?
3. What was an important “a-ha”
from today’s seminar that resonated
with me? Why?
4. What questions do I still have
about using advance organizers and
their effect on student learning?
Comments about the Marzano Strategy Trainings this year:
Suggestions for topics for next year: