USING ADVANCED ORGANIZERS

 By: Dr. Armãndo R. Tolliver | EDUCATOR | April 4, 2017

            Do you recall learning about cellular energy when you were in school? The science teacher presented all this in-depth information about photosynthesis and cellular respiration. I mean, you are sitting there and the teacher is speaking what seems to be a foreign language, “autotrophs, heterotrophs, reactants, products, thylakoid, chloroplast, mitochondria, nucleus, organelles, plastids, bioenergetics, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), cellular respiration, photosynthesis, autotroph, heterotroph, pigment, chlorophyll, light dependent, light independent, Calvin Cycle, NADP, calorie, Calorie, glycolysis, fermentation, electron transport chain, Krebs cycle, anaerobic, aerobic, glucose, glycogen, starch, pyruvic acid, lactic acid, NAD & FAD, acetyl-coA, citric acid, and creatine.” You get the point right? It is like this information overload, only to finish hearing about the information and still not understand the fundamental concept that photosynthesis and respiration are related, mutually connected physiological functions. It makes sense why it was so difficult. One reason was information overload and the other was material exchange could not keep up making the information overwhelming or impossible to process. Without the advantage of any setup, without any forecasting of content or accessing of prior knowledge, discerning what is important and learning it to the point of recall is rather challenging. This scenario highlights the importance of advance organizers.

Advance organizers are statements, activities, graphic organizers, or other tool that is used to introduce the lesson topic and help students anticipate, organize and illustrate the relationship between what the students are about to learn and the relevant information they have already learned. They are used in a variety of ways  (e.g. expository, narrative, skimming, graphic) during instruction in order to bring ease to students’ ability to make connections from one concept to the next, acting as a conceptual bridge and indicate to students what information from a lesson will be important.

            For example, an expository advance organizer I used before beginning a lesson on cellular respiration involved a lesson agenda that was posted for students to see, plus a few lesson recall questions that assessed prior knowledge, which led into me providing students with a description of the new concept to be presented, by highlighting important content. Here is a breakdown of the lesson transcript.

Teacher: “What are autotrophs?” Students: “Autotrophs are organisms that use energy from sunlight or chemicals to make their own food.”Teacher: “What are heterotrophs?” Students: “Organisms that consume other organisms for energy.”Teacher: “Where does photosynthesis occur?” Students: “In the chloroplast of plant cells.”Teacher: “What are the reactants for photosynthesis?” Students: “Sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide.”Teacher: “What are the products for photosynthesis?” Students: “Glucose and oxygen are the end products, but ATP and a high-energy electron carrier are created during the process.”Teacher: “Great job. In the last lesson we discussed how green plants used photosynthesis to trap energy from sunlight and make food in the form of glucose.
Teacher: “Here are a few cheese and turkey sandwich slices I made earlier. If you would like to try it come grab one.” Students: “This is good. Can I have another one.”Teacher: “Maybe later. I need to save these for the next class, but I want you to think about something. Trace the energy in the sandwich slice you just ate back to the sun.”Teacher: How do we get sugar from plants?” Students: “We get the energy the plants stored as glucose by eating directly or eating the animals that ate the plants. The turkey ate the grain that was made with the sun, and the cheese was made by the milk that was made by the cow who ate the grass that was made using the sun.”Teacher: “Perfect and that takes us right into today's lesson. In this lesson, we will learn how this glucose is broken down by organisms and the energy is stored as ATP in a process called cellular respiration. What kind or organisms do you think do this?” Students: “All living things need energy.”
Teacher: “Awesome, so you understand that all living things also includes plants, bacteria, humans, fungi, etc. In discussing the essential, how do different organisms obtain and use energy to survive in the environment, we will address the following questions in today’s lesson: a) what is cellular respiration, b) define the terms anaerobic and anaerobic, c) what are the high energy electron carriers used in cellular respiration, d) state where does cellular respiration occur, e) identify the first step of cellular respiration, f) define the meaning of glycolysis, g) name the molecule needed to supply the energy to start cellular respiration, h) summarize how glucose is broken down in each stage of cellular respiration, i) how are the products of photosynthesis and respiration related, j) what kinds of organisms undergo cellular respiration, and k) why?"

As you can see from the transcript, not only did I use an expository advanced organizer, I also used an opening narrative and sandwich slice to connect students personal real world experience to the new concept about to be presented.

I find that science is particularly difficult for many students because of its complexity and rigor, which makes it essential to intentionally teach students to use critical reading strategies to increase academic literacy within the science classroom. One way I do this is to first focus on vocabulary development as a pre-reading advanced organizer, by identifying 4-6 words most important for the student to use or know to increase comprehension of the content being read. This helps build comprehension of scientific texts heavily infused with content-specific terms. I assess the students’ prior knowledge of the words by asking students to quietly reflect on what the word might mean and write three words that might be used in the definition. The students are encouraged to note any prefixes, suffixes, or root words. For example:

Vocabulary term: glycolysis 

Words for definition: Glycolysis (GLYKOS = sweet LYSIS= split apart )

Also, before having students read informational text, I generally have them preview the readings that will occur later in the lesson and annotate the text in order to identify essential information in the reading. Here is the student template I have students use when implementing this strategy.

I have used a number of Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) science graphic organizers that have also been resourceful in helping me to help students tap into prior knowledge or imply the scope and organization of new content. Check out the list below.

• NEWS –helps students make personal connections to articles that make scientific claims. Here is a student sample.
• R and R-Read and Recall –helps students organize the reading by numbering the paragraphs of a text, pausing after reading each paragraph to determine the higher order thinking question(s) that the author answered in each paragraph. Here is a student sample.
• Summarizing Informational Text Learning Tool –helps students present ideas in an order that makes sense, starting with the maid idea and paraphrasing information. Here are the steps in summarizing informational texts I give to students. Refer back to the previous information above for annotating the text template.
• DDEE –helps student to Define, Describe, Explain, and provide Examples of scientific concepts or terms. Here is a student sample.
• Describe an experiment –helps students think critically about classic scientific experiments and the conclusions. Here is a student sample.
• LENSES –helps students analyze and interpret graphs, classify and compare scientific data to make predictions about the future science trends and phenomena.
• Experimental Graphic Organizer –helps students identify essential elements of an in class experiment (i.e. independent variable, dependent variable, hypothesis, constants, control group, and experimental setup).
• Descriptive Organizer –helps students to describe a concept, process or event. Here is a student example.
• Compare Contrast Organizer –helps students see the similarities and differences in concepts in a more organized manner than a Venn diagram. Here is a student sample.
• Sequence Organizer –helps students focus on the order and the details that support that order. Here is a student sample.
• Classification Organizer –helps students provide structure to information that requires classification. Here is a student sample.
• Analogy –helps students determine relationships between ideas by comparing them to other concepts that hold the same relationships. Here is a student sample.
• Diamante Poem –helps students use parts of speech and gerunds to describe either one central topic or two opposing topics. Here is a student sample.
• Get Curious and Ask Questions –helps students analyze scientific article, connect scientific ideas to previous knowledge, and determine the validity and potential bias of scientific arguments.

I have found that the benefit of advance organizers is that they establish a purpose and direction for students’ participation in the lesson while also serving to acquire their attention by virtue of the relevance, challenge, or intrigue of the lesson. Also, once students have recalled prior, relevant information, their brains are better prepared to receive new information and make connections. Advance organizers also help students to know what to look for as they participate in a lesson and provide a framework for organizing that information.

Suggested Citation

Tolliver, A. R. (2017). Using Advanced Organizers. [Education Project Online]. Retrieved online at http://www.educationprojectonline.com/2017/04/using-advanced-organizers.html.

References

Advance Organizers in the Classroom: Teaching Strategies and Advantages. (2012). Retrieved from http://education- portal.com/academy/lesson/advanced-organizers-in-the- classroom-teaching-strategies-advantages.html

Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers | Researched-Based Strategies. (2005). Retrieved from http://www.netc.org/focus/ strategies/cues.php

Dean, C. B., Hubbell, E. R., Pitler, H., & Stone, B. (2012). Classroom instruction that works. (2nd ed.). Denver: ASCD.

Marzano, R. J., Pickering. D. J, & Pollock, J. E. (2006). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

McREL (2012). Classroom Instruction That Works [video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=ARFKDv8aUik