Evaluation

The NRP found eleven studies that used graphic organizers to assist students in framing and identifying the main ideas in Social Studies and Science texts.

Grade Level

The grade level distribution for the use of graphic organizers is: level 2, n=1; level 3, n=1; level 4, n= 5; level 5, n= 4; level 6, n=6; level 7, n=2; level 8, n=2. Hence the model level is grade 6 with the technique becoming more frequent at grade level 4. Graphic organizing is an activity that is taught to readers in the higher elementary and middle school grades, 4 through 8, with the mode occurring at grade 6. This suggests that children who can learn and benefit from this instruction have to have skill in writing and reading.

Experimenter Tests

Seven studies used recall of the text content to evaluate the effect of training on the use of a graphic organizer. Six of the seven report significant benefits to the experimental groups; one reported a null finding.  Four studies (three other than those using recall) report significant achievement gains in the content area. Thus, the main effect of graphic organizers is on improving the reader’s memory for the content that is read.

Standardized Tests

Two studies reported positive findings on grades 6 through 8 for standardized tests to evaluate transfer from learning to organize content with visual graphs.

Summary Evaluation

Teaching students to use a systematic, visual graph in order to organize the ideas that they are reading about benefits the ability of the students to remember what they read and may transfer, in general to better comprehension and achievement in Social Studies and Science content areas.