Advance Graphic Organizer

Overview

Advance graphic organizers link prior knowledge to upcoming learning to help students anticipate and understand the structure of new information. Using advance graphic organizers, such as Know/Want-to-Know/Learned (KWL), can help students learn content and skills more deeply by connecting their Working and Long-term Memories.

Use It in the Classroom

Watch as a teacher explains how she uses a KWL chart in history class to help her students learn about the state they live in.

Starting a new book by connecting it with prior knowledge helps learners activate their Background Knowledge. Teachers can provide visuals for students to organize their knowledge to see how new information connects, to notice patterns in what they learn, and to predict new connections. Additionally, using an advance graphic organizer prior to writing explicitly shows different ways to structure a text and reduces Working Memory load as students write.

Design It into Your Product

Videos are chosen as examples of strategies in action. These choices are not endorsements of the products or evidence of use of research to develop the feature.

See how advance organizer products like Mindomo allow learners to create visual organizers. As learners explore new topics through mind mapping, they are able to organize and connect new material to what they have previously learned

Developers can provide tools that allow students to make their own graphic organizers. By creating a visual tool, learners consider patterns and connections even more deeply as they apply their Background Knowledge and practice their Verbal Reasoning.

View References

Resources

Below are additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.

Cognition & Memory

Topic that includes cognitive science theories about how the brain processes information on Digital Promise's Research Map

Facilitating Text-based Discussions

The importance of facilitating text-based discussions from Digital Promise's Ask a Researcher

Literature-Based Science Instruction

How KWL charts can help in instruction of other content

Strategies for Struggling Readers

How to use KWL in reading instruction

Top 10 Advance Graphic Organizers for Writing

Free downloads for expository or narrative writing

Why Advance Organizers Work

Understood.org explanation of advance organizers