The Power of Graphic Organizers

Jennifer Partrick
Aug 11, 2008

Some teachers think that graphic organizers take too much time, are not worth the time, are of no value to students, or are frustrating/boring for students. Contrary to this belief, there is evidence that graphic organizers support learning and assist with understanding the content being learned.

There are quite a few evidence-based reasons why graphic organizers should be a standard practice in all classrooms. To illustrate this, you need to ask yourself if any of the following phenomena happen in your classroom. First, do you have students who appear to understand information when it is being presented but have totally forgotten that information the following day? Second, do you have students who, after reading a passage, appear to have forgotten what was read? Third, do you have students who mix up information as they read? If any of these scenarios play out in your classroom, the answer could be a graphic organizer away.

The human brain is capable of assisting us with performing many tasks, but it does have certain limits. First, the brain can only hold so much information at any given time; for adults that is about seven chunks of information; for elementary age children it is about five chunks; for older students about six chunks; and for very young children it is about three chunks. When the brain's workplace, or cognitive workplace, becomes full, the information is either sent to long term memory where it may be filed so that it can be recalled, sent to long term memory where it is not filed properly and thus is difficult to recall, or the information is tossed out. When the information is tossed out, we see this displayed in classrooms when we notice that students appear confused when asked to recall information that was presented recently. They appear to have no recollection about the information to which you are referring. This information is important to know because graphic organizers can change this behavior.

For the students who have sent information to long term memory, but it was not filed properly, they have the information one day and not the next day. There are teachers who refer to this behavior as the 'light bulb being on one day and off the next'.

As information is being read, students need to stop periodically, summarize what was read, and place that information on a graphic organizer. In so doing, the brain's cognitive workplace has room again for new information to be manipulated and added to past information. Students then summarize information on the graphic organizer, further condensing that information into manageable chunks. Another reason for using graphic organizers is to help students take information that is displayed in a linear fashion and organize it into specific topics, thus organizing information to aid comprehension. For students who have weak short term memory, summarizing periodically and placing that information on a graphic organizer allows them to have a place where they can consolidate what has been read thus far, aiding retention and comprehension.

Graphic organizers are tools that support comprehension, organization, and retention of information so that students are better able to understand what they are learning.