Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works
Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoski
Chapter 4: Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers

Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers  Enhance students’ ability
to retrieve, use, and organize information
o Use cues and organizers to answer “What Do You Know?” and
What Do You Want To Know?” sections of a KWHL chart
o Cues  explicit reminders or hints about what students are
about to experience
o Questions  trigger students’ memories and help them access
prior knowledge
o Advance Organizers  structures that teachers provide to
students before a learning activity to help them make sense of
the content they’ll encounter (help focus learning)

Generalizations (p. 74)
o Should focus on what is important rather than what is unusual
o “Higher level” questions and advance organizers produce
deeper learning
o Advance organizers are most useful when used with
information that is not well organized
o Different types of advance organizers produce different results
o Wait briefly before accepting responses from students to
increase depth of students’ answers
o Questions are effective even when asked before a learning
experience

Recommendations (p. 74)
o Use expository and narrative advance organizers
o Teach skimming as a form of advance organizer
o Teach how to use graphic advance organizers
o Use explicit cues
o Ask questions that elicit inferences
o Ask analytic questions

Technologies
o Word Processing
 Can be used to create expository, narrative, or graphic
advance organizers
 Expository examples  brochures, definitions, rubrics,
programs
 Narrative examples  stories, articles, artistic works
 Graphic examples  tables charts, artistic works
o Spreadsheets
 Rubrics
o Organizing and Brainstorming Software
 Cueing and Questioning Organizer using Kidspiration—
p. 78 (use to show the class their learning goal in an
effort to provide cues about what will be learned and ask
essential questions)
 Inspiration Advance Organizer—p. 81 (students fill in
sections of organizer as they complete research to create
concept map)
 Inspiration’s Rapid Fire Tool—p. 82 (used to organize
ideas from a group brainstorming session into a concept
map)
o Multimedia
 Use movies and activities that will activate prior
knowledge
 www.explorelearning.com
 www.brainpop.com
 www.streaming.discoveryeducation.com
 www.pbs.org
 www.archive.org
 www.video.google.com
 www.creativecommons.org

Ideas and Examples of Advance Organizers
o Students research an upcoming field trip location and create a
brochure containing information they can refer to during the
trip
o Create an advance organizer for note taking that students fill in
during lesson (include key terms, concepts, themes to be
covered)
o Multimedia Example
 During a 6th grade study of constellations and planets, a
teacher downloaded a free program called Stellarium, a
computer based planetarium (www.stellarium.org)
 Set the current date, the school’s location, and an evening
time, and watch what the evening sky will look like. The
students were able to use the knowledge they gained
from the advance organizer to attempt to identify specific
constellations at home. Parents can also download the
free software for more exploration and practice.