Graphic Organizer Research Findings © 2008 Edwin Ellis www.MakesSenseStrategies.
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Summary of Major Graphic Organizer Research Findings
Pam Howard & Edwin Ellis
University of Alabama
General Education
Best Practice (all learners)
READING Before reading, teachers should discuss the structure of the text,
COMPREHENSION during reading they should use a variety of graphic organizers that
match the structure, and after reading help students write about
what they have learned (Forsten et al., 2003).
Pre-reading activities can include brainstorms, graphic organizers
of students' background knowledge (using concept maps, clusters,
or webs), or cloze exercises (during which students attempt to
replace important vocabulary or concepts that the teacher has
deleted from the text in order to draw attention to those points). In
addition, the teacher or students may develop questions, through
directed writing or interactive discussions, such as, "What do I
already know and what do I need to know before reading?" or
"what do I think this passage will be about, given the headings,
graphs, or pictures?" Such pre-reading activities not only prepare
students to understand text but also help build their vocabulary
and study skills (Jacobs, 2002)
Instruction in metacognitive strategies can improve reading
comprehension. Good readers read for a purpose and actively
monitor their own understanding of what they read. Explicit
instruction in such strategies as questioning, summarizing,
comprehension monitoring, and using graphic organizers can help
poor readers learn to retain, organize, and evaluate the information
that they read (RAND, 2002).
Teachers may use semantic webs or graphic organizers to help
menu
RESEARCH (all learners)
The implementation of reading strategies that focuses on advance
organizers and self-assessment were selected as intervention
strategies. Various graphic organizers, an observation checklist, and
a document analysis were incorporated into the daily curriculum in
the targeted classrooms. Post-intervention data indicated an
improvement in accessing prior knowledge, organizing ideas, and
strengthening connections to understanding (Langford et al., 2003).
Concept-mapping strategies (map correction, scaffold fading, and
map generation) determined effects on students' text comp rehension
and summarization abilities. Results with 126 fifth graders show
that the map correction method enhanced text comprehension and
summarization, and the scaffold-fading method facilitated
summarization (Chang et al., 2000).
When coupled with the seeming import of complementary factors (e
g. student involvement, criteria measures) indicated by previous
graphic organizer research, findings of this study suggest a refined
and intricate usage of the pre-graphic organizer as an aid to
comprehension and recall (Simmons, et al, 1988).
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students prepare themselves for reading. Graphic organizers, such

as comparison charts or story frames, helps students externalize
their thinking and often causes them to recheck their sources to
verify ideas (Salinger, 2003).

Teachers need to provide means for students to organize

information before, while, and after reading. They should guide
students in articulating their prior knowledge and develop linkages
between prior knowledge and new information. They should
establish various means for students to respond to text by
encouraging and teaching various organizational structures for
recording information (Ruddell, 2001).

Graphic organizers can enhance learning in a number of ways.

Prior to reading they can be used to acquaint the reader with the
information in text, to allow student to acknowledge and share
their collective understanding or views on lesson objectives, or
they can be used as a teacher-directed activity to enhance students’
prior knowledge. They can direct the reader’s attention as he or
she is studying a text by serving to act as a study guide, and they
can be used to review an extend one’s thinking at the conclusion
of a reading regardless of the age group or content area (West et
al., 1991).

The main effect GOs appears to be on the improvement of the

reader’s memory for the content that has been read. Readers
improve memory and comprehension for text in its review, the
Panel identified 16 categories of text comprehension instruction of
which 7 appear to have solid scientific basis for concluding that
these types of instruction improve comprehension in on-impaired
readers. Some of these types of instruction are helpful when used
alone, but many are more effective when used as part of a
multiple-strategy method. The types of instruction are:
1) Comprehension monitoring; 2) Cooperative learning; 3) Use of
graphic organizers (including story maps), where readers make
graphic representations of the materials to assist
comprehension; 4) Question answering; 5) Questions generation;

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6) Story structure; and 7) Summarization (NRP, 2000).

Graphic organizers can be used as a practical tool while using

basal readers, tapping into prior knowledge, cultivating active
participation, and fostering an understanding of conceptual
relationships, thus leading to a facilitation of comprehension
(Kirylo & Millet, 2000).

Creating concept maps prior to engaging in manipulative

experiments will produce better long-term retention than the
opposite sequence (Ritchie & Volkl, 2000).

Teachers strive to engage their students in literacy acquisition in

ways that maximize their time and materials and that are efficient
and effective. We know from decades of reading research,
especially in the primary grades, that the use of graphic organizers
helps students understand new or difficult concepts about literacy
(Dye, 2000; Robinson, 1998).

Instructional tips for teaching specific words and concepts include

presenting new vocabulary in semantically related groups (e.g.,
semantic maps, semantic feature analysis (Nagy, 1998).

Story maps are graphic organizers with story elements used as

headings on some kind of teacher-made worksheet. These
headings are used to prompt students to locate key information
from the story, and, once located, to record it on the graphic
organizer. Researchers have consistently demonstrated the
benefits of using story grammar to map narratives so that general
and special education elementary and secondary students improve
their reading comprehension (Swanson & De La Paz, 1998).

Whether used to depict an entire text's structure or to illustrate

related attributes of a concept, graphic and other visual organizers
help students to understand inter-concept relationships by
presenting the information spatially. This is true in regular
classrooms and is applicable to students with special needs and

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Graphic Organizer Research Findings © 2008 Edwin Ellis www.MakesSenseStrategies.com
those whose heritage languages are not English
(Ritchie & Gimenez, 1995-1996).
WRITING
Graphic organizers come in many forms and provide students with
visual information that complements the class discussion or text.
Students at this school consistently reported that the graphic
organizer is the mo st helpful strategy that we employed (Fisher et
al., 2002).
Writing fro m maps is relatively easy. They require light to
moderate teacher preparation time and can be used for whole
class, collaborative groups, or partnerships. Mapping, by
definition, is an organization activity; it there fore, preceded
writing naturally by providing visual representation of students’
constructions and organizations of knowledge from a learning
event. Maps are their preliminary organizational plan; they show
what ideas the student selected as most meaningful, how these
ideas are connected, and the supporting details for each (Ruddell,
2001).
Effective writing lessons have clear and specific objectives and
prepare students to write about specific topics. Effective writing
instruction is characterized by planned brainstorming activities
that help students organize information prior to writing (Hillock,
1984).
CONTENT Creating a graphic organizer for an instructional lesson plan is an
effective way to engage students in learning. You give them more
ownership of the learning process by sharing the purposes and
direction of instruction and by providing opportunities during the
construction process for them to express their perceptions about
the lesson content. It also provides a way to integrate an additional
learning modality into instruction (Lenz et al, 2004).
Venn diagrams, or graphic organizers, have many uses in the
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This research provides information for improving organizational
skills in writing through the use of graphic organizers on second,
third and fifth grade students. Post-intervention data indicated an
improvement in the use of organizational skills during the writing
process. Students had growth in the area of transferring these skills
into other subject areas (Capretz et al., 2003).
The results of this study tend to support the hypothesis that using
GOs can improve the creative writing ability of third grade students.
There was significant growth between the mean scores of the
samples to warrant the use of GOs in the third grade classroom
(Meyer, 1995).
This study found that the strategy instructional procedures that
graphs the story parts had a positive effect on the fourth- and fifth-
grade students' writing. An overall improvement in story quality
was maintained and generalized by all of the students (Danoff et al.,
1993).
A series of “think-sheets” was developed for fourth and fifth grade
students that emphasized relevant writing strategies and text
structures to use during writing activities, guide teacher modeling,
build a common language related to writing, and serve as written
records to stimulate discussion throughout the writing process. The
results showed there were significant main effects for treatment and
ability (Englert et al., 1991).
The results of this study suggested that the effect of concept
mapping on science achievement appears to have success with
lower achieving students (Snead & Sneed, 2004).
Students starting with concept maps showed higher achievement on
the delayed posttest than students beginning with the laboratory
experiment (Ritchie & Volkl, 2000).
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Graphic Organizer Research Findings © 2008 Edwin Ellis www.MakesSenseStrategies.com
elementary classroom and can be used across the curriculum and
in ever-increasing patterns of complexity (Moore, 2003).
Graphic organizers are constructed to reflect teacher objectives
and text information that will facilitate those objectives (Ryder &
Graves, 2003).
Webbing is another effective strategy for activating prior content
knowledge. As students brainstorm their ideas, the teacher begins
to construct a web depicting how these ideas relate to the concept,
making mental notes of what students know and what
misinformation or gaps in learning the class needs to address. As
the web develops, the teacher may add information that students
missed but need to know before they tackle the text. Students can
refer to this map while they read, making connections with new
information (Barton & Heidema, 2002).
The underlying function is to position several related terms, ideas,
or concepts around one central element in a graphic or spatial
organizer, then to help the students understand the relationships
that tie the various parts together. The graphic organizer spatially
represents the interrelationships of the concepts to students and
facilitates the integration of related ideas in new ways. A bonus is
that the process can recapture time throughout the instructional
day by maximizing the use of everyone's time and materials as
effectively and efficiently as possible (Brunn, 2002).
Visual learning tools can be types of node-link diagrams where
geometric shapes that represent the main ideas of a
communication links are the lines that label the nature of the
connection between main ideas. In graphic form, the cause/effect
events are arranged in a chain link, showing how each event
contributed to the end result. The arrangement of the nodes and
links enhance social studies instruction because they help students
comprehend challenging passages in their textbooks (Ciardiello,
2002).
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In both experiments, the students who studies GOs were able to
apply text knowledge best when review was delayed.
The students who received GOS were more likely to use
memorization strategies when review was immediate, whereas they
were more likely to use non-memorization strategies when the
review was delayed (Robinson & Katayama, 1998).
The results suggest that the explicitness of instruction and/or the
graphic organizer played important roles in students’ ability to
generalize the instruction to novel textual material.
The performance of student in the EX GO, EX No-GO, and Im GO
conditions was statistically superior on the transfer to that of
students in the traditional instructional condition
(Griffin & Malone, 1995).
Positive outcomes have been reported when graphic organizers are
used as both advance (Boyle & Weishaar, 1997) and post organizers
(Willerman & Mac Harg, 1991).
Data obtained in this study provide supportive evidence to indicate
that the s ubjects in the study who were adjudged to be good concept
mappers exhibited superior performance in solving the three
problems of the study (Okebukola, 1992).
A control group of 40 eighth graders completed a unit on elements
and compounds. An experimental group of 42 completed concept
maps on the same topic. Results of a one-tailed T test demonstrated
the usefulness of concept maps as advance organizers (Willerman &
Mac Harc, 1991).
On three GO experiments, the results indicated that GOs as a form
of textbook modification was effective for all students. However,
GOs produced significantly higher performance than self-study for
the students with LD enrolled in social studies, science, and health
classes at the secondary level. Across the three experiments, the
pupils with LD averaged 70% correct with GOs and 20% correct
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Implementing a graphic organizer notebook (blank webs and
organizers for students to complete after reading chunks of
content) in a content area unit enables teachers to teach reading,
writing, and study skill strategies meeting the needs of all students
(Fisher, 2001).
We offer five attributes for effective GO implementation:
1. verbalize relationships (links) among concepts expressed
by the visual;
2. provide opportunity for student link;
3. connect new information to past learning;
4. make reference to the upcoming text ; and
5. seize opportunities to reinforce decoding and structural
analysis (Merkley & Jefferies, 2000).
with self-study (Horton et al, 1990).
Junior high school students taught using semantic mapping using
hierarchical relationships from vocabulary lists and semantic feature
analysis using the relationship matrix indicated qualitatively and
quantitatively greater recall comprehension and vocabulary learning
as compared to the group using other strategies. (Bos & Anders,
1990).
High school students were taught concepts using Concept Diagrams
and Concept Teaching Routines (i.e., advanced organizer, symbols
reviewed on diagrams, post-organizers) and showed gains in their
performance on texts of concepts and in note-taking (Bulgren, et al.,
1988).

Concept mapping allows thinkers, readers, and writers to translate

ideas and concepts into a visual, graphic display that they can use
for reading or writing assignments. Students see how the ideas
they will read or write about connect with their previous
knowledge about a topic. Concept maps become idealized graphic
representations of text structures. Such graphic plans help students
form mental constructs of how texts are organized (Sinatra, 2000).

One approach that has been used to overcome poor text structure
is the use of adjunct aids or displays that are inserted in text to
communicate which information is important and how it is
structured (e.g., outlines, advance organizers). The graphic
organizer is one type of adjunct display that was developed to
assist students in understanding important inter-concept relations
by displaying information spatially. They facilitate memory for
text in a wide variety of settings (Robinson, 1998).

Students can grasp the concepts in literacy acquisition and content

area studies more readily within the context of a graphic or spatial
organizer than they can without the illustration of the concepts'
attributes (Monroe, 1997).

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By developing a series of several graphic organizers, teachers can

make a whole research process visible during the period of
exploration and idea development. Different construction of facts
become the subject of discussion of debate, highlighting the
purpose of historical research (Clarke & Martell, 1994).

As an adjunct to lecture-discussion instruction, visual depictions

such as webs, matrices, timelines, networks, and charts of
relationships have been shown to result in greater student learning
by students with learning disabilities of content information than
conventional content instruction (Crank & Bulgren, 1993).

Graphic organizers can be used to acquire knowledge of

relationships between concepts in a content area. Hierarchically
organized graphics require analysis and elaboration of content and
seem to enhance recall and transfer of learning. Hierarchical
graphics require integration of content, which facilitates inference
and problem-solving. While other characteristics of graphic
techniques may affect learning outcomes, the primary differences
will result from the types of cognitive processes induced when the
graphics are generated (Beis sner, et al., 1993).

To lead students through a complex intellectual process, teachers

can arrange simple graphic organizers in sequences from the
model that represents different kinds of historical analysis.
Graphic organizers are visual representation of different thought
processes (Clarke, 1991).

Learner constructed concept maps (GOs with labeled links) reflect

learner’s understanding of science concepts better than traditional
forms of testing (Novak, 1991).
Learning Disabilities
RESEARCH on Elementary LD RESEARCH on Secondary LD
READING The positive effect of using graphic organizers with LD was A study examined the effects of Venn diagram strategy on the
COMPREHENSION sufficient enough to support the theory that: GOs accommodate literal, inferential, and relational reading comprehension of 26 high
the LD student’s need for structure, organization and a clear school students with mild disabilities who exhibited poor reading

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format, as well, as his/her need to related information to personal
experience. Graphic organizers encourage higher order thinking
which is a hard concept for LD students to grasp (Quist, 1995).
Results demonstrated that the students with LD clearly benefited
from the story mapping instruction (Idol, 1987).
This study confirmed that explicitly teaching text structures such
as the story map enhances reading comprehension for students
with LD (Idol & Croll, 1987).
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comprehension. Students who were taught the Venn diagram
strategy demonstrated gains in both literal and relational
comprehension measures (Boyle, 2000).
Results of the study suggest that advanced story map instruction led
to improved reading comprehension for the students. All students
scored above passing levels on story grammar tests following the
intervention. The combined effects of explicit instruction and
practice in this study were seen to facilitate comprehension.
Apparently, advanced story map instruction provided students with
a framework to organize and retain critical story elements that, in
turn, enhanced comprehension. (Gardill & Jitendra, 1999).
Results showed that the group taught using semantic mapping and
semantic feature analysis indicated qualitatively and quantitatively
greater recall comprehension and vocabulary learning as compared
to the group using other strategies. (Bos & Anders, 1990).
A study assessed the effects of story map instruction in promoting
comprehension skills of secondary students identified as being at
risk for reading failure, including six students with LD. Story maps
were found to be more effective in improving students' reading
comprehension than the traditional basal instruction. In addition,
students in the story grammar instruction group performed better
than those in the traditional basal instruction group on measures of
written retells and theme questions (Dimino et al., 1990).
The use of advanced story mapping procedures using a modified
multiple baseline design investigated the effects of a traditional
basal literature and a story grammar instruction on the
comprehension of seven high school students with LD. Results
indicated that students' abilities to comprehend important elements
in literature anthologies improved as a function of story grammar
instruction (Gurney et al., 1990).
Qualitative and quantitative changes occurred in two severely LD
readers' cognitive processes during strategy training that included a
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WRITING The study demonstrated that the writing performance of students
with LD can be improved by teaching them to set goals,
brainstorm ideas, and organize their ideas in advance of writing.
This finding supports the hypothesis that students with LD benefit
from explicit writing instruction designed to help them improve
their planning behaviors. It also adds to a growing body of
literature showing that the writing difficulties of students with LD
are due at least in part to difficulties with planning (Graham &
Harris, 2000), as instruction in planning resulted in improvements
in these children's writing performance. (Troia & Graham, 2002).
There was a significant main effect for organization and use of
text structures called think sheets to encourage students to plan,
organize, write, edit and revise their written products. The think
sheets clearly played a central role in the writing gains by students
in the experimental group. When the students used text structures,
such as compare and contrast, their essay were well organized
(Englert, et al, 1991).double check to see if this is elementary
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mapping organizer to enhance remembering. Results suggested that
a qualitative shift in verbal strategy reports occurred during prose
recall. Introduction of cognitive training increased recall of prose
compared to baseline conditions (Swanson et al., 1987).
Results revealed significantly higher scores for the group of LD
students that were provided Advanced Organizers which used
outline/overview of important facts and concepts from each unit
prior to text reading. (Darch & Gersten, 1986).
Extensive teacher modeling and scaffolding, collaboration
throughout the writ ing process, and a set of structuring think-sheets
enabled students with to move beyond “learned helplessness” so
common among adolescents with LD; they came to see themselves
as genuine writers and to employ the writing process as a tool for
effective written expression (Hallenbeck, 2002).
With the support of a relatively simple procedural facilitator,
student with LD were able to reflect on, critically analyze, and
improve their writing (Graham et al, 1995).
double check to see if this is secondary
Junior High students with LD made substantial increases in the
amount they wrote and mild to moderate increases in the quality of
the stories produced after being taught to use procedural facilitation
techniques which included a story-ender, grammar cue card, and
story parts (Montague & Leavell, 1994).
Sixth graders with mild learning disabilities were taught expository
writing strategies that included “instruction sheets” and” organizing
sheets/templates.” The intervention was effective in teaching
writing and the students maintained criterion and above criterion
level scores after learning the strategies (Boyer, 1991).
Eighth graders with LD were taught a metacognitive text structure
strategy that included outlining as a paragraph planning guide. By
providing the students with intensive instruction in a text structure
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CONTENT Elementary-age students with a LD learned significantly more
social studies and science content when taught with visual
displays than when taught by a teacher-directed activity involving
reading and discussing text (Darch & Carnine, 1986).
strategy, all the students reached the criterion level for instructional
outcomes on writing compare/contrast and sequence paragraphs
(Wallace & Bott, 1989).
The use of Inspiration software to create spatial organization of
academic content resulted in increased learning of world history
(Mastropieri et al, 2003)
The results of this study demonstrated the efficacy of GOs for
student with LD within the context of intensive instruction
(DiCecco & Gleason, 2002).
The results of this study demonstrated that the process of
constructing concept maps with extensive support from the teacher.
Students made substantial improvement in creating mnemonic
procedures on their own for recalling information, the ability to
construct difference mnemonic devices based on demands of the
task, and improved performance on content tests
(Bulgren et al, 1995).
When an Unit Organizer Routine was used in secondary science
and social study classes, the unit-test performance of students with
and without LD increased an average of 10 percentage points over
baseline (Lenz et al, 1994).
Reports results of meta-analysis of 19 studies on concept mapping
in science instruction. Results showed it has positive effects on
student achievement and attitudes (Horton, et al., 1993).
LD students who were taught an explicit strategy for solving
problems where the teacher explained the use of a pictorial
presentation of a decision tree performed better on two transfer
measures than students given supportive feedback and encouraged
to induce their own strategies (Hollingsworth & Woodward, 1993).
Interactive strategies (semantic feature analysis, semantic mapping,
and semantic/syntactic feature analysis) were found to be more
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effective than instruction emphasizing definitions for junior high

LD students with reading disabilities studying science content and
striving to learn content and concepts (Bos & Anders, 1992).

The results showed that the group of LD students not taught with
GOs did not make gains between pre and post testing (Griffin et al.,
1991).

On three GO experiments, the results indicated that GOs as a form

of textbook modification was effective for students with LD and for
the remedial and general education student. Each of the three
experiments substantiated that GOs produced significantly higher
performance than self-study for the students with LD enrolled in
social studies, science, and health classes at the secondary level.
Across the three experiments, the pupils with LD averaged 70%
correct with GOs and 20% correct with self-study
(Horton et al., 1990).

High school students with LD were taught using instructional

materials that included relationship charts that consisted of matrices
on which important passage ideas were listed across the top and
related vocabulary words were listed down the side. Results
indicated significantly greater comprehension of content (Bos et al.,
1989).

High school students classified as LD and remedial recalled a

greater number of facts from a life science text when material was
presented graphically than when presented by using a study guide
or when learned through self-study (Bergerud et al., 1988).

When learning-disabled high school students were taught about

astronomy by either presenting key concepts with a visual spatial
display or by presenting concepts with texts, tests measuring short-
term mastery of content favored students taught with the visual
display. (Darch & Eaves, 1986).
Graphic organizers The systematic procedure by which a complex task is The principles and methods of instruction--
accomplished--

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Special Strategies/Techniques for all learners
READING The prewriting sub-process, organizing ideas, involves helping
COMPREHENSION students use an outline or graphic organizer to arrange their
content (Scott & Vitale, 2003).
The National Reading Panel (National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development, 2000) concluded that instruction in
systematic phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, and
comprehension strategies (including graphic organizers) were
important in a complete reading program. (NRP, 2000).
Seven instruction strategies have a firm scientific basis for
concluding that they improve comprehension in normal reading.
The seven individual strategies that appear to be effective and
most promising for classroom instruction are (in alphabetical
order): comprehension monitoring, cooperative learning, graphic
and semantic organizers, including story maps, questions
answering, question generation, and summarization. (NRP, 2000).
In general, explicit instruction in both story grammar and the use
of story maps has resulted in positive effects on reading
comprehension skills of elementary (Baumann & Bergeron, 1993;
Idol & Croll, 1987) and secondary (Dimino et al., 1990; Gurney et
al., 1990) students with and without LD (Gardill & Jitendra,
1999).
Various instructional strategies increase comprehension by
enhancing the organization of knowledge--for example, "advance
organizers," "structured overviews," and "concept maps." Current
researchers suggest that the regular use of such strategies in the
classroom is the best way to increase comprehension, retention,
and use of information gained by reading (Fuentes, 1998).
To make the process interactive and support the students as they
read, teachers can create the map collaboratively with the students
prior to reading (using key vocabulary and their background
Pedagogy for the Learning Disabled
A rationale for using graphic organizers is based on the fact that
students with language disorders often struggle with traditional
instruction that places large demands on language skills (Ives &
Hoy, 2003).
For teaching text structure, credence has especially been given to
the use of visual representation of key ideas expressed in expository
text for teaching text structure. The graphic organizer is an example
of a visual representation of ideas expressed in text. Teachers can
use GOs to guide students through a discussion before or after
reading. Alternatively, teachers can show students how to use and
create GOs independently (Sáenz & Fuchs, 2002).
Learning new words takes both will and skill on the part of
students. The facility to attend to words depends on meta-linguistic
sophistication that can be fostered by teachers who assist students
by thinking aloud, modeling, and guiding until effective learning
strategies become automatic. Students need explicit instruction to
understand what s trong readers do when they encounter unknown
words and to know that they too are capable of making good
decisions while they read (Greenwood, 2002).
A growing body of research suggests that direct instruction in text
structure and use of organizational devices promotes
comprehension (Gardill & Jitendra, 1999).
The purpose of graphic organizers is to help students better
understand important text ideas and how they are related. The
information from a visual structure also aids summarization and
allows for use of multiple modalities (Dowhower, 1999).
A teacher must use multiple ways to present information, makes
learning visible, and provides the students with multiple ways to
demonstrate learning. It also provides practice to move students
toward independence. When reading expository text, relationship
maps or charts can be used as another means of representing the key
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knowledge), have students read the text, and then revisit the map
and make modifications based on the text (Reyes & Bos, 1998).
Effective strategy instruction involves teachers who provide
advance organizers in outline form, so students can examine the
structure of the lesson's content (Deshler et al., 1996).
Strategies such as activating prior knowledge, using visual
imagery, paragraph summarization, specific mnemonic
procedures, survey-question-read-recite-review, and story
mapping have been identified in the literature as promising
practices for promoting reading success. Studies have
demonstrated that teaching students to use strategies for reading
increases their ability to comprehend text materials (Salembier,
1990).
The Word Map technique is useful for helping students develop a
general concept of "definition." It makes them aware of the types
of information that make up a definition and how that information
is organized. A Word Map is a graphic representation of the
definition of a word and focuses on three questions: What is it?
What is it like? What are some examples? (Schwartz and Raphael
1985).
WRITING Most recent studies adhered to a consistent framework of teaching
three critical steps in the process of writing: planning, the actual
writing of a first draft on the topic, and revision of this draft.
Teachers should explicitly teach these steps, using several
examples and varying levels of support. Teaching students to use
think sheets, planning sheets, prompt cards, or some other type of
mnemonic aid is essential. These concrete reminders of critical
steps provide students with a structure that prompts and
encourages them to complete critical steps involved in developing
a written product. They provide guidance on what to do when the
students feel stuck or overwhelmed. A second purpose of the
concepts and text structure. Using webs or maps to represent
content makes content visible in that it helps students see the major
ideas of the text and how those ideas are organized and related.
(Bos & Vaughn, 1998).
LD students have more difficulty with inferential comprehension of
expository texts than of narrative texts could potentially be
explained by ineffective utilization of prior knowledge (Carr &
Thompson, 1996).
By using visual tools that correspond to thinking processes, students
can organize their ideas on paper or by computer, and as a result—
read, write, and think better (Hyerle, 1995).
Graphic organizers facilitate memory for text (Dunston, 1992).
Organization and retention of expository text can be aided by
graphic organizers and visual-spatial arrangements of information
to show the interrelationships among ideas (Horton et al., 1990).
There is consensus among researchers that skilled readers have a
plan for comprehending; they use a variety of reading strategies
effectively to monitor their own comprehension before, during, and
after they read. Much of this research has focused on teaching
students with reading difficulties to employ one or more strategies
when they read for processing information and monitoring their
own comprehension (Ellis & Lenz, 1990).
The fact that the procedural facilitators (think sheets, story maps,
etc.) are visible helps demystify the process for students with
disabilities. In other works, it seems to be less important to teach all
steps in a strategy to a student than to use a strategy or procedural
facilitator to initiate and focus dialogue that leads to higher levels of
performance (Baker et al, 2002).
Verbal organization and working memory in the writing process
separate the good writers from the poor writers. Also influencing
writing are problem-solving efficiency, self-monitoring, and
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planning sheets is to provide a common language for teachers and
students to sharpen their dialogue about writing tasks and
assignments (Baker, et al., 2003).
Procedural facilitators make writing using text structures visible to
students and help demystify the writing process. A suggested
procedural facilitator is the “Think Sheet”. The Think sheet helps
the student plan their writing through a series of sequential and
structures prompts. The use of targeted procedural facilitators for
specific writing tasks helps students recognize sameness, or
recurring text patterns. (Gersten & Baker, 2001).
CONTENT Research has subsequently confirmed that graphic organizers
(GO) are valuable devices for younger students with general and
special needs. Studies have linked the use of GOs with advanced
student achievement and recall in reading comprehension and
application, retention, and structure within written compositions.
Based on the literature, the question facing all educators no longer
centers on whether GOs are valuable instruction tools, but rather
on how to use these learning devices effectively to meet the
diverse learning needs of students. Students are more likely to
retain the information contained in a GO. The cause-and-effect
GO is one of the most common and beneficial instructional tools
in the classroom. Pictures are particularly beneficial to many
students with special needs, who often struggle with written
communication but excel in artistic displays (Baxendell, 2003).
Providing statements about a subject to be learned has been shown
to provide a structure for new information and relates it to
information the student already possesses. Advanced organizers
provide students with a “mental scaffold” on which to build new
understandings of information. This scaffolding may consist of
helping students access information already in their minds and
new concepts or principles that can organize this information in a
form that will aid in new learning. (Swanson & Hoskyn, 2001).
Regardless of the general models of instruction, only a few
attention regulation (Hooper et al, 2002).
Concrete structures for advanced planning are critical to the
completeness and overall quality of expository essays produces by
students with LD (De La Paz & Graham 1997).
The brain works by making patterns; and we can visualize this
process through a medium called “visual tools.” There are three
types of visual tools that can help students and teachers construct
knowledge, organize information, and communicate their learning
with others: brainstorming webs, task-specific organizers, and
thinking process maps (Hyerle, 2004).
Give students worksheets and they will learn for today; teach
students how to use a visual took and they will learn for a lifetime
(Hyerle, 2004).
Mapping the content can be a helpful way to sort out critical
information. Relationships and connections may be seen more
clearly if you map them rather than just listing them (Lenz et al.,
2004).
Procedural facilitators and cognitive strategies support students
taking action. They can stimulate thinking and promote more
effective organization (Baker et al, 2002).
Students comprehend and acquire new information by specifying
what concept is going to be learned, accessing the knowledge
students possess related to the new concept, explicitly depicting
information related to the new concept in a graphic organizer
connecting student knowledge with the new concept and
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15
instructional models of instructional components increase the
predictive power of treatment effectiveness…3. Advanced
organizers. (Swanson, 2001).
Concept mapping is a flexible tool that may be used to illustrate
students' existing understanding and suggest routes for future
learning. It can enable the classroom teacher to differentiate
between students in a non-threatening manner using a simple
classification scheme. This, in turn, may be used to optimize the
composition of collaborative groups to promote conceptual
change. The development of the students' concept maps
encourages participation by reducing the burden on working
memory and acts as a focus for the group's discussions (Kinchin &
Hay, 2000).
Representing knowledge in the visual format of a concept map
allows one to gain an overview of a domain of knowledge.
Because the nodes contain only a keyword or a short sentence,
more interpretation is required of the reader, but this may be
positive. Concept mapping can be used for several purposes: To
generate ideas (brainstorming); To design complex structures
(long texts, hypermedia, large web sites); To communicate
complex ideas; To aid learning by explicitly integrating new and
old knowledge; and To assess understanding or diagnose
misunderstanding. Visual symbols are quickly and easily
recognized; Minimum use of text makes it easy to scan for a word,
phrase, or the general idea (Plotnick, 1997).
Another way the content can be taught strategically is by using
GO, which depict the organization of various key ideas and related
details. Teacher-constructed GOs can help students perceive
relationships between ideas that otherwise may go unnoticed.
These can also help students begin to recognize common
information organizational patterns found in texts, which in turn
can potentially enhance relational understanding between ideas as
well as increase the sophistication of their understanding of
summarizing what has been learned in a brief written statement
(Deshler et al, 2001).
Nonlinguistic representations help students construct meaning,
deepen their understanding, and recall knowledge for later use.
Students can symbolize their personal associations of a term in a
graphic form that combines verbal and visual word associations
(Marzano, Picketing, & Pollock. 2001).
Visual representation allows for development of a holistic
understanding that words alone cannot convey (Plotnick, 1997).
Educators should "teach to the brain's natural capacity for thinking
and organizing information.” Vocabulary maps, webs, and other
graphic organizers give students a chance to manipulate new ideas,
see how they are related to familiar concepts, and construct a visual
representation of these relationships (Monroe & Pendergrass, 1997).
Visual displaying key content ideas can benefit learners who have
difficulty organizing information (Fisher & Schumaker, 1995).
Much of traditional education breaks wholes into parts, and then
focuses separately on each part. We need to see the “whole” before
we are able to make sense of the parts (Brooks & Brooks, 1993).
We are coming to understand the importance of relationships and
non-linear connections as the source of new knowledge. Out task is
to create organizational forms that facilitate these processes
(Wheatley, 1992).
Transforming information by identifying and developing curricula
around structural sameness can lead to a pedagogy that is efficient
and effective (Kameenui, 1991).
Graphic organizers are words on paper arranged to represent an
individual’s understanding of the relationship between words.
Whereas conventional sentence structure make most writing linear
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16

information structures and motivation to understand more about
the topic. Their use with students with mild learning disabilities
has a strong empirical basis (Ellis, 1994).
One modification technique that has been successfully applied
with pupils with mild disabilities and general education students is
the writing of study guides. Study guides are questions or
statements that appear on worksheets to help students learn
content information during or after they have read a passage
(Lovitt & Horton, 1994).
Notes that content area teachers recognize that visual organizers
such as time lines, Venn diagrams, inductive towers, concept
maps, causal chains, force fields, and flow charts help students
recognize and take control of the intellectual processes which
bring meaning to the study of academic content (Clarke, 1991).
in form, graphic organizers take their form from the presumed
structure of relationships among ideas (Clarke, 1991).
Visual displays rich with data are not only appropriate and proper
complement to human capacities, but also such designs are
frequently optimal. If the visual task is contract, comparison, and
choice—as often it is —then the more relevant information within
eye span, the better (Tufte, 1990).
The notion that learning comes about by the accretion of little bits is
outmoded learning theory. Current models of learning based on
cognitive psychology contend that learners gain understanding
when they construct their own knowledge and develop their own
cognitive maps of the interconnections among facts and concepts
(Shepard, 1989).

A process that works well for any content areas is:

1. Present at least one good example of a completed graphic
organizer;
2. Model how to construct either the same graphic organizer of
the one to be introduces;
3. Provide procedural knowledge;
4. Coach the students; and
5. Give the students opportunities to practice (Jones, et al,
1988/1989).

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