Advance+Organizers

**Advance Organizers**

**Content** Science

**Grade Level** 8-12

**Curriculum Standards** The following CSOs could be used in an 8th grade science class while using advance organizers: SC.O.8.1.4: conduct and/or design investigations that incorporate the skills and attitudes and/or values of scientific inquiry (e.g., established research protocol, accurate record keeping, replication of results and peer review, objectivity, openness, skepticism, fairness, or creativity and logic). SC.O.8.1.8: draw conclusions from a variety of data sources to analyze and interpret systems and models

**Description of Practices** Advance organizers orient students to material prior to reading about them. They provide students with an overview or preview content that they will be learning about. Based on the scheme theory students profit from having a framework for material to be learned. This is especially helpful in science because more times than not there is a lot of information to be learned and this can be very overwhelming to students with disabilities. Providing an outline or a framework/advance organizer not only alleviates stress, but it can aid students of lower ability and.or limited background knowledge of the content. If you want to use advance organizers in your classroom follow these easy ten steps in order to effectively implement them in your classroom! 1. Inform the students of advance organizer 2. Clarify the actions to be taken 3. Identify the topic 4. Provide background information 5. State the concepts to be learned 6. Clarify the concepts to be learned 7. Motivate the students to learn 8. Introduce vocabulary 9. Provide an organizational framework: the advance organizer! (outline, list, diagram) 10. State the general outcome desired

**Implementation Considerations** Advance organizers can be used in any setting. If you are working in an inclusive classroom the organizers can be used when introducing a new topic in science. You will need to set aside time (about 45 minutes) to first implement and teach about the organizer before using it. Once you have done this, though, you will be able to use the organizers with your students as often as you would like. They can also be very helpful to use in a pull out setting where you are working one on one with a student with a disability or a small group. This way you can preview information they are going to be learning about in science and gather an understanding of how much prior knowledge they have about the topic. Studies have shown that advance organizers are more effective when presented before a learning task so keep this in mind!

**Example** In this video a 7th grade Olmsted Falls Schools' teacher opens the lesson with the use of Essential Questions (advanced organizer) and then engages in cues and questions. Here she is using an advanced organizer in the form of asking questions about a concept in science they have already learned about but will be tested on soon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW17kifnYRs

Though the following example is using the Advance Organizer Model for English, it is a great video because it tells you the steps at the bottom of the screen. As the teacher is teaching and the students are working, it is explained how the advance organizer is being used. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX50SoCj4OI&feature=related

**Citation** B.K. Lenz (1983) Promoting active learning through effective instruction, //Pointer 27// (2) p. 12.

Kiewra, K., & Mayer, R. (1997). Effects of advance organizers and repeated presentations on students.//Journal of experimental education//, //65//(2), 147, 13, 1.