Students are presented with a large of information in their courses. Providing graphic organizers allows them to simplify the information they learned and help them to remember processes and sequencing.
Dawn,
Good use of the because they let the students see the segments of the information and well as the whole as they work through the different sections of the course. The graphic organizers help them keep everything together in a way that the can understand and review later when preparing for a test or presentation.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I use graphic organization learning when teaching technical skills that require a sequence. This allows me to group skills together in an organized manner which, in turn, assists with the educational delivery as well as retention of the information for the students.
Curt,
Thank you for sharing this examples of how graphic organizers are being used in your setting. I use them a lot in my classes as well because of the help they give my students with understanding segments of content and how the segments then fit together make a complete project.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I work at a technical school and we use graphic organizers to show how a fuel injection system works. The input sensors to the ECM and the output from the ECM . Leaving guided notes for the students to fill in what voltage or ohm readings they should have . This gives them a quick reference to use for trouble shooting the system.
Using a graphic organizer cam help students organize the information that is the most important for the topic they are studying. It helps to take out the confusing information that muds the waters for the student. If they can concentrate on what is important and why they need to know, then they most likely will learn the information better.
Lauren,
Helping your students to see how each component contributes to a positive outcome is essential in their training. You are helping them to see how they need to consider each step and ingredient as being a part of a positive outcome when the recipe is completed.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I agree that critical information can become invisible. To look at the big picture, each small component must be understood and recognized. This is especially important in my baking and pastry classes - every ingredient has an individual function, but when combined in a strategic manner, they work together to give the desired result.
Graphic organizers can help students organize their learning efforts by helping them integrate or pull together new content and previous knowledge. They can also organize information into a structure that is easy to remember and understand. Graphic organizers also help students to isolate information that is important to their learning. They give students a picture of information, how things relate to each other, and make information easier to recall. For example, in the medical field, we often use terms, mnemonics, and charts to organize and remember important information. In ACLS, we use alogorithms to remember the series of events necessary to resuscitate patients in different cardiac rhythms.
Eric,
They are great aides to students in helping them to see parts as well as the whole of what they are studying. By having a visual picture of this via the organizers they can see how each segment fits together.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Graphic Organizers provide students the opportunity to cypher information accordingly.
When there is a lot of information to be processed, graphic organizers provide space, so to speak, where students can lay out the information in neat order and visually comprehend and make sense of all of it. Most of us like to have our house, garage, books etc in some type of order. Why not the same with the material we are learning. Another aspect that was not discussed much was the fact that if the information is organized well, the student will have much easier time and be more proficient in recalling the information. Perhaps taking the recall to knowing the information cold.
Kelsey,
Thank you for these comments about how to use graphic organizers. These methods I know will be of help to other instructors that are considering using them in their classes.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
The use of graphic organizers help students to organize their learning efforts because they allow or give the students critical thinking training so to speak as it allows for one to think through the process from the "problem" or issue to the solution. Another way, using the cycle organizer allows for the "what should be done first" while the network tree if a flow -down or -up that shows the sequences in completing a task or project.
Thanks so much,
Kelsey
Most of my students are either visual, tactical learners or a combination of both. They retain fully with the use of visuals even when it comes to a straight ahead lecture course.
Colette,
Yes, you can. They will help your students to see the segments as well as the whole as the work through the different concepts.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Angela,
This is a great use of graphic organizers in your field. With all that your students have to learn in this field they are a great way for the students to set up the organizers and use them as they progress through the course.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I believe I can use graphic organizers to connect the content of each unit in a way that is meaningful to students.
I use graphic organizers mainly while teaching Kinesiology to help students group muscles together as well as their actions. It's usually done on the board and in the form of spider graphs which I animate to help the understand the importance of some material over others.
Vicki,
They are such a great aid to students and help them to see how to put their material in an organized manner for use later.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
