January 21, 2010
This week in my class, “Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction and Technology” I watched a DVD lecture by Dr. Orey in which he talks about “elaboration” which is the fact that students have a better chance of storing knowledge in their long term memory if they can make a connection/association with a specific fact. That is why advanced organizers are so important.
Having taught grades from first through adults, I have learned that a graphic or advanced organizer works with most students. With third graders I have used KWL charts, which taps into previous knowledge students have on a specific topic, can state what they expect to learn and then when the topic/lesson is complete they state what they learned. I have also used advanced organizers with third graders when they were researching biomes. The main reason organizers work so well for students, including special education is first they are putting their notes into their own words which adds to association, they are seeing a visual representation of the relationship and association of a specific topic and they are earning to abbreviate what they are writing which will help with good note taking as they get older.
Reference
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Bridging Learning, Theory, Instruction and Technology, Cognitive Learning Theory. (DVD).
The KWL chart is such a simple tool that we have at our disposal but is very effective in helping us understand our students. I use the KWL charts when covering many topics in business, as the level of information between students usually varies dramatically. At least with the chart, I am able to spend more time on topics that the students may not know a lot about and spend less time on those they have a good grasp of. All in all, it truly does help with planning and time management.
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