Graphic Organizer Factsheet
© JHH ‘06
What are “Graphic Organizers”?
Graphic Organizers (GO’s) are as old as recorded history.
Historians write that a millennia before the invention of the
printing press, the ancient orator, Cicero, memorized nearly
40,000 manuscripts and speeches by assigning words and
phrases to rooms in his house and the objects in his rooms.
The ancient Greeks and Romans called this process of
organization memoria.
A GO is simply a schema to record our understanding of relationships. Traffic
signs are GO’s. So are hand gestures. Anything visual which combines the
sense of sight with learning is a GO
Examples of GO’s are abundant; we’ve all witnessed them as we grew up. They
include flash cards, tables, columns, pictures, films, note cards, “sticky notes”,
Venn diagrams, SQ3R, posters, visual aids, demonstrations, and labs, to name
just a few. With increased computer access by students and teachers, use of
Microsoft Word Art, Google Images, Freemind & Inspiration software have
increased.
Now please, try a small experiment in graphic organizing. Think about the
italicized list in the paragraph above & organize it into columns of your own
invention. No hints from the teacher. You teacher’s simple two-column list is
below this section.
How did you organize your thoughts: Items of interest versus non-interest?
Graphics I’ve tried versus ones I haven’t? Old versus new? Something else?
My list:
Old GO’s
flash cards
pictures
SQ3R
posters
demonstrations
tables
New GO’s
“sticky” notes
Inspiration
Word Art
Google Images
Barton Templates
The point here is probably obvious: The learner could have been given
suggestions on how to create relationships, but it probably wasn’t necessary.
(Cris Tovani writes about this in her excellent books on reading. She calls it
“reading with a purpose”.) This is relationship-creating, active participation by the
student. The learning is student centered, rather than teacher centered. The
learning becomes what I call, “sensual”, involving more parts of the brain and
differing brain functions.
The bottom line on GO’s is relationship-building. The things we organize
graphically need to have connections to fuel the fire in the human brain. The
GO aids memory, understanding, and upper level thinking.
What is the research and experience on GO’s?
Based on experience/research, what impact on learning do the following Graphic
Organizers have?
Learning with a purpose: (Cris Tovani, mentioned above, writes about
this in her excellent books on reading. She calls it “reading with a
purpose”.) Learning with a purpose is relationship-creating, active
participation by the student. What works about this GO is the student
making sense of what they read, learn, see, hear or otherwise learn. The
learning becomes what I call, “sensual”, involving more parts of the brain
and differing brain functions. Having a purpose raises comprehension an
memory.
Tables/columns: Tables help students organize learning into lists and
groups. Most computers that have Microsoft software have a “Table” drop
down item on the menu. The student places their knowledge intothe table
for analysis, review by the teacher, and sharing with other students in
small groups. Here is an example.
Simple/easy GO’s
reading with a purpose
“sticky” notes (important facts)
Tables to note relationships
“drawing” pictures of learnings
SQ3R
flashcards
storyboards
demos
Venn diagrams
posters
Richer, complicated GO’s
Inspiration software
Freemind software
WordArt
Google and A9 graphics
Pictures: In my experience, using pictures enhances learning. In 2003, I
re-discovered the use of pictures as memory and comprehension aides.
Teaching freshman speech to a very ordinary group of students, I must
have subliminally noticed how well they did on demonstration speeches
and use of visual aides. Some trigger must have tripped the day most of
the class failed to simply learn and remember the content of my favorite
lesson, The 10 Keys to Effective Listening. In a moment of
panic/creativity, I broke the group into pairs and had them draw pictures of
symbols which referenced the Ten Keys. Each pair reported at least one
of the keys. Results? Not only did all the students pass the next quiz,
they excelled on the cumulative test and continued to put the pictures on
the exam, even though they weren’t required.
Another anecdote may help to understand the picture process. As a result
of a Dona Tillotson workshop, and some Mary Barton instruction, I tried to
transfer the picturing process to the study of vocabulary in English 10
during the spring of 2005. It’s the same drill the whole department uses
with our red vocab books. Teacher picks the words from the book; kids
study the words, synonyms, antonyms, and use the word in a sentence.
In the beginning of the instruction, the grades were normal and poor. We
did 15 sets of vocab and the good students did well, but the others weren’t
motivated and did poorly.
Then I started using pictures with students finding dramatic and often
humorous pictures from Google Images. By the end of the quarter, Block
2 had and A- average of 92.5% as a group and the Block 4 students
averaged 94% on the final exam and the cumulative test.
“elated”
Pictures seem to work, but I’d admit that we also experimented with flash
cards and vocab tables. The most interesting part of the anecdote was
the assessment and course evaluation I gave the students during the final
week. A large majority of the students said they preferred the picture
process, and felt that the picturing aided comprehension and memory.
Posters: Posters are pictures with a common theme. In 2005, based on
the suggestion of a colleague, I reluctantly asked students reading Huck
Finn to form groups, select key themes and draw posters of the ideas and
details. The poster is an excellent way to get feedback for assessment of
what and whether students have learned.
I have asked soccer ref candidates to draw and role play the various parts
of the offside call with some success.
Flash/note cards: Flash cards are an old concept and a GO. I’ve used
them to memorize the complicated system of rules in upper-level soccer,
but I didn’t make a connection to current pedagogy until a teacher who
specializes in brain research spoke about the use of graphic organizers
and the tactile nature of learning with flash cards. I tried them with
vocabulary and they worked with some of my students, but the real
success came when I got students to use them in reading the English 10
required science fiction novel, Ender’s Game. Students were asked to
read the book on the theme of Cris Tovani’s “reading with a purpose” and
record their thoughts on “plot cards”. I was quite pleasantly surprised by
the depth of their understanding and their presentation using the flash
cards as their data and concept arrangers.
Another note card concept is to summarize key ideas and have students
stick the card in the book for later review or discussion.
Films: How often did we “watch a film” with almost all of the lights out
back in our school days. Did we learn well? Here’s a hint; combine the
film with ‘learning with a purpose’. Some teachers who use GO’s have
them draw key frames of the film, create a table/column of the key
concepts, write flash cards of the important content or simply answer
study questions on the film.
One of my favorite film GO’s is to have students use a Venn diagram to
compare and contrast. In speech class, we might compare and contrast
the speeches of two different students. In a soccer ref clinic, we might
have students compare and contrast what they knew with what they
learned or old rules versus new. See “Venn” below.
SQ3R: I’ve used SQ3R for 25 years in different ways. The US military
pioneered its use to get the most out of reading material in World War
Two. It wasn’t until this year that I also used the table software on our
computer to aid student reading comprehension in other classes,
especially social studies and science. Here’s the GO connection: I asked
students if their teachers used tests which asked questions about the
pictures and visual aides in the text. The next thing I noticed was that
students were writing SQ3R questions which included the pictures and
their link to the texts.
Post-it “sticky” notes: These are great reading aides. Whether reading
an article, a textbook, a novel or a technical journal, the use of “sticky”
notes helps the learner focus on what is read or learned
from any document by highlighting key concepts.
These notes are used with the tactic of learning with a
purpose. The “stickies” can be taken out of the book
and placed on a folder or a piece of paper for review.
These are great aides for small group student discussions.
Venn diagrams: Venn diagrams are good for comparing and contrasting,
which is actually an upper-level thinking skills. As an example, think how
an automotive student might compare and contrast diesel and normal
gasoline engines. He or she would need to know key parts, functions, and
processes of both engines to be effective. That’s highly effective learning.
Name of Medium 1
Name of Medium 2
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Unique Ideas
Medium 1
Enter data here
Common
ideas of 1 &
2
Enter data
here
Unique Ideas of
Medium 2
Enter data here
Inspiration: Inspiration Software is a very interesting graphic organizing
tool. We learned the technical side in a workshop last winter, but I didn’t
realize the link to thinking skills until I attended a workshop where Dona
Tillotson spoke about Mind Maps. During a break I asked her if she had
heard of Inspiration and she said, “I know what you say next! You say,
‘Wouldn’t it work to use Inspiration Software on the computer as digital
Mindmaps?’”
Here’s the research on Inspiration Software, summarized from 29
scientifically based research studies.
Reading comprehension. Use of GO’s is effective in improving
student’ reading comprehension.
Vocabulary. (Brookbank et al, 1999) Moderately affected
vocab test scores... helped at least 80% of students at all
grade levels master key vocabulary skills.
Writing skills. (Gallick-Jackson, ’97; Meyer, ’95) Results of
posttests and writing samples revealed that students’ writing
skills improved.
Reading comprehension. (Brookbank, ’99, Sinatra, ’84)
GO’s helped improve students’ reading comprehension.
Berkowitz, ’84; Bowman’98) GO’s are one of the seven
most effective strategies for improvement of reading
comprehension
Student achievement. Students using graphic organizers show
achievement benefits across content areas and grade levels.
(Doyle, ’99; Meyer, ’95) Five studies of science content, with GO’s
aiding student comprehension and retention of scientific material.
(Gaustello, ’00)
Thinking and learning skills. The process of using a GO
enhances skills such as developing and organizing ideas, seeing
relationships and categorizing concepts. Problem solving and
students with learning disabilities. (Braselton & Decker, ’94)
Retention. (Bos & Anders, ’92; Ritchie & Vokel, ‘00) Use of GO’s
aids students in retention and recall of information. (I particularly
like the “note” function.)
My personal experience has been that Inspiration works very well with
groups of students and that they are capable of surprising sophistication.
In April of 2006, a soccer colleague introduced me to Freemind, located at
www.Freemind.com. It is as sophisticated as Inspiration, but can be
loaded onto any computer, without cost, so it’s a good software for
students or anyone else who wants a GO software that is not web-based
and doesn’t require a group license.
One final hint about “talk” may be helpful. This is based on the writings of
the German philosopher and writer, Herman Ebbinghaus. His experience
concluded that we can enhance learning by picturing doing and saying
what we learn aloud. Ebbinghaus said we retain 10% of what we read,
20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, 50% of what we see and hear,
70% of what we learn and say aloud and 90% of what we say as we do a
thing. As a speech teacher, I highly recommend that learners talk about
what they have learned, using GO’s to cue the discussion.
10% of what
we read
20% of what we
hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we see and hear
70% of what we learn and say aloud
90% of what we say as we do a thing
Active participation plan
Learning with a purpose: House
Tables/columns: Lesson plans, Ten Keys
Pictures: English 10 vocab.
Posters: Huck Finn
Flash/note cards: Soccer cards
Films: Show The Cog. Combine w/purpose.
SQ3R Handout
Post-it “sticky” notes: Alan Page article
Venn diagrams: Rodriguez Venn
Inspiration: Tetzlaff group