Angela Ouellette EDCI 5360 11/05/2012

Advanced Organizers
Chapter 11

Description of Model
Organizers are spatial arrangements of words that represent the organization of a given text. The three parts include elements such as words or phrases, relationships among the words, and the organization of the text (Stull, 2007). Organizers are used to organize and convey educational information to students in the most effective way possible (Joyce, Weil & Calhoun, 2009). Advanced organizers are used to strengthen students cognitive abilities by providing them an understandable way to learn material (Joyce, Weil & Calhoun, 2009). Learning is not passive when using organizers because student have to process information and put it in their own words. (Joyce, Weil & Calhoun, 2009) The human brain takes in information and wants to process it a certain way; thinking maps are helpful in processing information in a way that makes it easier for us to understand. When using advanced organizers, the instructor must be mindful of three things; how students organize knowledge, how the mind processes new information, and how teachers can apply these ideas when they teach new information to help students learn (Joyce, Weil & Calhoun, 2009). Graphic organizers provide a way for students to see the spatial arrangement of key materials in text (Stull, 2007). Comprehending and recalling information from expository text is very difficult for the majority of students (Ozmen, 2011). This is a way for teachers to make the information that students read more meaningful. Using graphic organizers, teachers are able to do this in a way that allows students to differentiate between important material and the fluff (Ropic, 2012).

Angela Ouellette EDCI 5360 11/05/2012

Using organizers reinforces the evidence that vocabulary instruction must be much more than just looking up words in a dictionary and writing sentences (Hyerle & Yeager,
2007)

Process
Phase 1: presentation of organizer o Clarifies aim of lesson o Identify attributes o Give examples and provide context o Make sure learner is aware of their prior knowledge Phase 2: presentation of learning task or material o Make a logical order of learning material explicit o Link material to organizer Phase 3: strengthen cognitive organization o Use principles of understanding o Clarify ideas (Joyce, Weil & Calhoun, 2009)

Research
Organizers strengthen cognitive thinking and enhance retention or new information (Joyce, Weil & Calhoun, 2009). The most effective organizers use terms, concepts and propositions that the learner is already familiar with (Joyce, Weil & Calhoun, 2009). Using organizers makes students engage in generative thought processing (Stull, 2007). Providing graphic organizers can engage students in active learning; they must verify the way material was selected from the original text to be included (Stull, 2007).

Angela Ouellette EDCI 5360 11/05/2012

Both given and student created organizers encourage processing skills, extraneous processing is higher with used generated organizers (Stull, 2007). They have been used to promote comprehension in reading (Stull, 2007). They may facilitate learning by helping students with organizational skills used with expository texts (Stull, 2007) They can promote the recall of knowledge (Stull, 2007). New meanings are acquired when they are related to previous knowledge. Organizers are helpful because they allow students to see what they know before (Ozmen, 2011). Organizers provide ease when encoding and retrieving information (Ozmen, 2011). According to Ropic (2011), they make the visualization of the connection of preknowledge and new gained knowledge. Providing students with a fill-in-the-bank advanced organizer is a way to scaffold learning (Wormeli, 2005).

We are able to learn more visually than with any other sense. Organizers are great because we are able to see visual patterns in our thinking. (Hyerle & Yeager, 2007)

Recommended use
Begin using the organizer when presenting new material, so that students are aware of where learning should go and can become familiar with terms. Good for use with learning that is systematic (Joyce, Weil & Calhoun, 2009). Can be used to evaluate students attainment of material (Joyce, Weil & Calhoun, 2009). Students can create their own, known as learner-generated graphic organizers, in the form, they learn by doing (Stull, 2007). When learners are inexperienced, the teacher can scaffold it so that the learner has a base structure when recalling information (Stull, 2007). They are good to use when students need to deconstruct and reconstruct paragraphs, it helps students determine the main ideas and supporting details. (Ropic, 2012) They can be used to scaffold writing (Ropic, 2012)!

Angela Ouellette EDCI 5360 11/05/2012

Having students create advanced organizers for one another can help their summarization skills (Wormeli, 2005). They can be used in a variety of ways to learn at all stages (Wormeli, 2005). They are very helpful in building students patterns of comprehension and understanding (Wormeli, 2005). They are helpful in clarifying difficult ideas and abstract concepts. (Hyerle & Yeager, 2007)

Organizers promote student centered learning, concept development, reflective thinking and cognitive development. (Hyerle & Yeager, 2007)

Angela Ouellette EDCI 5360 11/05/2012

Sources
Hyerle, D., & Yeager, C. (2007). Thinking maps: A language for learning. Cary, NC: Thinking maps Inc. Joyce, B. R., Weil, M., & Calhoun, E. (2009). Models of teaching. (8 ed.pg. 247-261). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Ozmen, R. (2011). Comparison of two different presentations of graphic organizers in recalling information in expository texts with intellectually disabled students. Educational sciences: Theory and practice, 11(4), 785-793. Ropic, M. (2012). Web graphic organizers as an advanced strategy for teaching science textbook reading comprehension. Problems of Education in the 21st Century; (Vol. 41, pp. 87-99). Stull, A. (2007). Learning by doing verses learning by viewing: Three experimental comparisons of learner-generated verses author-provided graphic organizers. Journal of educational Psychology, 99(4), 808-820. doi: 10.1037/0022-0663.99.4.808 Wormeli, R. (2005). Summarization in any subject, 50 techniques to improve student learning. (First ed. Pg. 44-56). Alexandria: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.