According to NICHY.com
Findings
- Semantic organizers, cognitive maps with a mnemonic and framed outlines were all found to be highly effective in improving reading comprehension. Cognitive maps without a mnemonic were found to be moderately effective.
- Graphic organizers were effective regardless of whether they were implemented by teachers or researchers.
- Students using graphic organizers significantly outperformed their peers who did not use graphic organizers regardless of whether they developed their own graphic organizers or used teacher- or researcher-generated ones.
- Students ranging in age from elementary to high school all benefited significantly from using graphic organizers.
Institute for the Advancement of Research in Education, July 2003
Graphic Organizers increase learning.
As a tool to support students’ thinking and learning processes, the 29
research studies have shown that graphic organizers help students:
• brainstorm ideas.
• develop, organize, and communicate ideas.
• see connections, patterns, and relationships.
• assess and share prior knowledge.
• develop vocabulary.
• highlight important ideas.
• classify or categorize concepts, ideas, and information.
• improve social interaction between students, and facilitate group work and
collaboration.
• guide review and study.
Graphic organizers have been found to improve students’ reading
comprehension at all levels, first grade through high school. …NRP (National
Reading Panel) cited graphic and semantic organizers (including story maps)
as one of seven categories of instruction that is the most effective in
improving reading comprehension.
Mentoring Minds.com says
Research shows that graphic organizers are key to assisting students to improve academic performance. In creating an organizer, pertinent aspects of a concept
or topic are arranged into a pattern using labels. This process is one that
research suggests aids comprehension for several reasons:
• Graphic organizers match the mind. As researcher David P. Ausubel has
shown, the mind arranges and stores information in an orderly fashion.
New information about a concept is filed into an existing framework of
categories called a schema. A schema already contains preexisting
knowledge about that concept. Graphic organizers arrange information in
a visual pattern that complements this framework, making information
easier to understand and learn.
• Organizers demonstrate how concepts are linked to prior knowledge to aid
in comprehension.
• Organizers aid the memory as opposed to recalling key points from an
extended text.
• Organizers help retain information readily when higher thought processes
are involved.
• Organizers engage the learner with a combination of the spoken word with
printed text and diagrams.
Tata for now!
Tess