ho big deal about gos · 2014. 7. 6. · 7/24/12 1 edwin ellis, ph.d. university of alabama...

7/24/12

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Edwin Ellis, Ph.D. University of Alabama University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning

What’s the big deal about graphic organizers?

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Makes Sense Strategies Toolkit © Edwin Ellis, PhD (205) 394-‐5512

Isn’t this just pu,ng informa3on into li5le boxes?

Aren’t outlines just as good?

Does using them raise test scores?

Are GOs just another educa3on fad? Does using them really ma5er?

An extensive body of research shows that use of graphic organizers dramatically improves learning

READING comprehension

scores

significant increases

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BEFORE reading DURING reading AFTER reading

Are GOs just another education fad? Does using them really matter?

READING comprehension

scores


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WRITING organiza3on &

fluency

significant increases MATH

Concepts & processes


SCIENCE concepts & processes


HISTORY Depth, breadth,

accuracy



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Students learning English as

2nd lang


Students with learning disabili3es


Students who are

intellectual giRed



Teaches same 2nd mini-unit using traditional guided note-taking / discussion instruction

Teaches 1st mini-unit using traditional guided note-taking / discussion instruction

Teacher A

Changes in students’ knowledge about the mini-unit topic are measured at end of each mini-unit

Teacher B

32 Typical Achieving 32 Low Achieving 16 Students w/LD

Closing the history learning- gap study (Alabama high school)

WEEK 1 WEEK 2

32 High Achieving

Teaches 2nd mini-unit using

Teaches same 1st mini-unit using

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First, we measured how much new knowledge of history High Achieving students typically gain when teachers use traditional content instruction methods.

This allowed us to establish the “high water” line.

Traditional content instruction methods = Text-based, guided note-taking / class discussion

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HA HA

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Then, we measured how much new knowledge of history Typical Achieving students usually gain when teachers use traditional content instruction methods.

This allowed us to establish the “typical amount” line.

21% more Gap between High & Typical Achievers

High Achieving students tend to gain 21% more knowledge than do Typical Achieving students from the same lesson.

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HA HA

TA

HA

Then, we measured how much new knowledge of history Low Achieving students typically gain.

LA

Typical-achievers typically gain 29% more knowledge from a traditional lesson than do Low Achievers.

29% more Gap between Typical & Low Achievers

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HA HA

TA

HA

LA

At first glance, it seems like MSS is a powerful tool for “reducing the achievement gap.”

11 % less

LD

9 % less

4 % less The reality is that ALL students greatly enhanced their knowledge when teachers used MSS


Before MSS After MSS

0 4 Ave. number of main ideas

about the lesson identified by students that matched with main ideas the teacher identified that she intended

students to learn

Ave. number of important facts

(or details) identified by students that matched with facts the teacher identified that she

intended students to learn

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5th grade students were interviewed immediately following social studies lessons. The interviewer webbed information as students identified ideas and directed the interviewer where to note the ideas on the web.

1.  What was that whole lesson about?

2.  What are some really important main ideas or different topics from the lesson? Why do you think they are important?

3.  What are some specific things or facts from the lesson you think were really important? Why do you think they were important?

Aligning 5th grade history objectives with outcomes

97%

POST

81%

PRE

11TH grade typical achievers

71%

PRE

11th grade students w/LD

17 pt gain 26 pt gain

98%

POST

Learning 11th grade history vocabulary

Typical 8th grader N=20

117 words

CONTROL group of students w/LD

EXPERIMENTAL group of students w/LD

FLUENCY

Pretest Post-test Pretest Post-test

29 words

26 words 24

words

Experimental group of students w/LD (received MSS instruction)

126 words

+97 words more than pretest

+9 words more than typical 8th grader

Impact of writing fluency: 8th grade students with LD

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MSS 49.24%

MSS 62.41%

MSS 74.81%

MSS 82.68%

% of students meeting or exceeding standards AFTER schools started implementing MSS

9 Schools Extremely low performance

20.6%

before MSS

8 Schools Low

performance

38.83% before MSS

7 Schools Moderate

performance

58.39% before MSS

2 Schools Good

performance

73.02% before MSS

23.58 pt. gain 16.42 pt. gain 28.64 pt. gain 9.66 pt. gain

Impact on AYP Writing Assessment

MSS implementation 1ST YEAR

State Ave 30.90% Year 1

57.39% Year 3

59.0% Year 4

36.1% 51.43%

22.0%

40.8% Year 2

28.08%

10.0% 62.24%

81.0%

2nd YEAR

71.0%

% students meeting or exceeding standards

23.35 % pt. gain 52.24 % pt. gain 30.00 % pt. gain

8.76 % pt. gain

School #1

School #2

BEFORE MSS implementation

MSS schools averaged 28.58% pts. gains per year

Non-MSS schools averaged 9.01% pts. gains per year

Impact on semi-rural 5th grade Alabama Writing Assessment

Non-MSS High School 53%

MSS High School 77%

26 pt gain

2 pt gain

MSS implementation

51%

51%

Both groups performed at the same levels

Year 1 Year 2 % students meeting or exceeding standards

Impact on semi-rural high school Alabama Writing Assessment

Year 1 Year 2 Gains

24% 75% 51 pts

(Action Research by ESL Teacher)


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Before implementing MSS After implementing MSS

Impact on 7th grade ESL students California Writing Assessment

Year 1 Year 2 Gains

32.71% 57.84% 25.13% Rural 7th Grade Suburb 7th Grade 38% 61% 23.00%

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Before implementing MSS After implementing MSS

Impact on 7th grade Alabama Writing Assessment

In other words, use of GOs improves learning across all grade levels

across all core subjects pretty much with all student-types

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What’s the big deal about graphic organizers?

* Teach informaCon-‐processing skills

* Facilitate communicaCon of complex ideas * Reduce informaCon-‐processing demands

* Illustrate relaConships between ideas

* Make instrucCon more focused, precise and explicit

Why do GOs work so well?

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Graphic organizers usually depict one of the four common ways to structure the information

* Hierarchic

* Compare / contrast

* Cause/Effect

* Sequence

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Why is instruction more focused & explicit when GOS are used?

STEP 1:

STEP 2:

STEP 3:

STEP 4:

STEP 5:

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Kid-‐friendly language

Priority info

Limited space for communicaCng

ideas

Requires precision

Eliminates verbiage

Very concise

Carefully weigh & evaluate info

to note on GO

EssenCal info

Graphic Organizers make informaCon more

explicit

Why is instruction more focused & explicit when GOS are used?

This part is the hardest

ALWAYS involves…

Information-processing

LocaCng in memory seemingly related background knowledge

IntegraCng new informaCon with background knowledge which involves…

Determining how the informaCon is organized

ElaboraCng the new informaCon

Monitoring to ensure comprehension

The more complex & unfamiliar the new informaCon…

How do GOs reduce information processing demands?

…the harder it is to determine its organizaCon

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Thus, revealing how the new informaCon is organized BEFORE the new informaCon is presented makes it much easier to process and understand…

…because the brain doesn’t have work as hard to make sense of it

How do GOs reduce information processing demands?

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Then students don’t have to work as hard to understand it

Because the info processing demands have been reduced

You can teach at MORE sophisCcated levels

(as opposed to having to dumb-‐down the curriculum)

ImplicaCons are HUGE!

If the organizaCon is revealed at the lesson beginning

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The key is whether the ORGANIZATION of the information is self-evident to the learner

I. A. a. b. c. B. a. b. c.

II. A. a. b. c. B. a. b. c.

What about outlines? Aren’t they just as effective?

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Hierarchic

YES YES

NO Cause / Effect YES

NO Compare / Contrast YES Linear sequence YES

NO YES

Outline

MAYBE Cycle

Can you see the structure? I.

A. a. b. c.

B. a. b. c.

II. A. a.

b. c.

B. a. b. c.

Graphic Organizer

Is the Organization of Information Visually Apparent? What about outlines? Aren’t they just as effective?

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Type of information

Hierarchic

YES YES

NO Cause / Effect YES

NO Compare / Contrast YES Linear sequence YES

NO YES

Outline

MAYBE Cycle

Graphic Organizer

IMPLICATIONS?

Outlines have a LOT of merit – - They are a whole LOT better than nothing!

Just be selective about WHEN to use them - Effectiveness is limited to hierarchic information

DO use them

What about outlines? Aren’t they just as effective?

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Type of information

Why do GOs have such dramatic affects on students’ DEPTH, BREADTH & ACCURACY of content knowledge?

2 key reasons…

GOs put the focus on relational understanding …how ideas “hang together”

rather than memorization of seemingly disconnected bits & pieces of information

REASON #1

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2 key reasons…

GOs facilitate student elaboration of ideas REASON #2

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2 key reasons…

GOs facilitate student elaboration of ideas

…use of important information processing skills addressed by literacy standards

REASON #2

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Some graphic organizers depict “whole-to-part” structures

WHOLE

PARTS

Students learn how to think about the information

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Is about…

Consider what happens to thinking when back-‐to-‐whole prompts are added to the GO TOPIC

Main Idea

Details

So what? What’s important to understand about this?

Main Idea

Details

WHOLE

PARTS

WHOLE

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Students learn how to think about the information TM

Here’s a basic comparison matrix Now consider what happens to thinking when this element is added

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Notice the prompts in this Literature GO…

Characters Title Segng

What LED UP to your favorite part of the story?

What happened DURING your favorite part of the story?

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Students learn how to think about the information TM

Notice the prompts in this Literature GO…

Reason why you liked it

Details

Another reason why you liked it

Details

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Topic

Is a type or part of… -‐OR-‐

Member of this group…

Key things to remember about this topic

Example

Non-‐example Don’t confuse with…

Is like…

Draw a picture

Knowledge ConnecCon

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Makes Sense Strategies Toolkit


There’s a LOT more going on with graphic organizers that just putting information in

to little circles and boxes!

In part, it’s the VISUAL REPRESENTATION of the information structure

It’s also the PROMPTS that are added to them

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Want to know more about why GOs work so well?

See the handout titled “Graphic Organizer Q & A”

that accompanies this presentation

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ho big deal about gos · 2014. 7. 6. · 7/24/12 1 edwin ellis, ph.d. university of alabama...

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