Multiple Representations: Graphic Organizer
Overview
Visualizing how ideas fit together helps students construct meaning and strengthens recall. Graphic organizers outsource the memory demands of a task by mimicking the brain's mental schema, supporting students' cognitive development and, in turn, their problem-solving and Reasoning skills.
Example: Use This Strategy in the Classroom
Graphic organizers can be integrated in all subjects, beyond just English Language Arts. For example, as they do with their ideas on stories in this video, students can use graphic organizers to compartmentalize their mathematical thinking and find patterns in math problems.
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.
Products like Creately provide graphic organizer templates and diagramming tools. With colorful, dynamic, and editable graphic organizers, learners and teachers can customize their work to meet their needs.
Additional Resources
Additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.
Factors Supported by this Strategy
More Visual Learning Tools Strategies
Visual representations help students understand what a number represents as well as recognize relationships between numbers.
Sentence frames or stems can serve as language support to enrich students' participation in academic discussions.
Providing visuals to introduce, support, or review instruction activates more cognitive processes to support learning.
