Teachers' use of cues, questions, and advance organizers is a successful strategy for information to become more meaningful to students. Cues and questions allow students to be aware of what they will be learning about and try to think about what they already know about that topic. The organizers are a way for students to find connections between new and old information (Pitler, Hubbel, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). According to the cognitive learning theories, the more connections that are made between ideas the better chance that it will make it into the long term memory (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).
The cues and questions part of this strategy they relate to a KWL chart in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works (Pitler et al, 2007). That is what this strategy reminds me of, but I cannot say that I have ever been sold on a KWL chart. I find more merit in the organizer part of this strategy because it is more active learning with the information you are teaching. Students have to interact with the information more. It is important for students to think about what they already know and brainstorm any questions, but that could just as easily be a part of an organizer that may mean more to them. Some students may even have to change what they think they know about a topic once they start learning about it. It could be an active part of their learning to have to cross out or erase something they thought was true in order to record the correct information.
Summarizing and note taking is also a major strategy that is used in the classroom that supports the foundations behind cognitive learning theories. These two strategies are based on the skill of finding the important information in a resource and paraphrasing that information (Pitler et al, 2007). It takes an in depth understanding of information to know what supports the main idea of what they are learning about and then to be able to put that information into their own thoughts. As you are reading and learning information, it can easily make its way into short term memory. Once you are required to start sifting through this information, it now starts to move into long term memory because you have to have a true understanding to take it to the next level.
I teach third grade. Both summarizing and note taking are difficult skills for this age group. When it comes to summarizing, they find it difficult to differentiate between what is important and what is not. If they can figure out the difference, it is then hard to put events in their own words. It is a skill that we work on throughout the school year to try to perfect. Note taking is a skill they have never really been taught. At such a young age, they do not know how to take notes. We introduce note taking to our students through our social studies lessons. As we read the textbook, we show them a variety of strategies they can use to take notes. This year, we have already used concept maps and an outline type of format. Later this month they will use a chart while completing research.
Cognitive learning theories are based on "information processing" which is the basis of education (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011). We need to present information to our students so they can process it, make connections and, hopefully, remember it for a long time.
References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program five: Cognitive learning theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007).
Using technology with classroom instruction that works.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Trevor says...
ReplyDeleteHi Melissa,
I enjoyed reading your blog this week simply due to fact we share many of the same points of view in relation to the use of effective advance organizers as a means of enhancing student learning. Now while the use of cues, questions, and efficient note taking are indeed other successful strategies for reinforcing information I too prefer the use of graphic organizers. As you stated with the use of classroom instruction involving organizers students are allowed to reap the benefits of “active learning with the information you are teaching” (Young, 2011) which in turn makes the learning more meaningful to students. This relevance and meaningfulness ultimately is the key to having students associate the information into long-term memory. In highlighting the efficient use of organizers with students they will be able to generate the learning connections between their existing background knowledge and new information, something which Orey highlights are being crucial to the learning process (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).
Ultimately in having your students efficiently interacting with information and generating the much needed informational connections we, as teachers, will be able to assist them in generating higher levels of understanding. Now with all that said do you have a preferred style of graphic organizer which you use with your students?
Trevor
Reference
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program five: Cognitive learning theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1.
Trevor,
DeleteI have found that my third graders are not active learners unless I require them to be. We have been modeling a few different ways of taking notes to our students so they can gain a basic understanding of taking notes. I currently prefer concept maps for my students because I feel they are easier for them to understand. I also like that they can make more connections and do it visually. For this week's assignment with the concept maps, it allowed us to have a different conversation about how a variety of concepts can be connected. I love what concept mapping allows my students to do with information. I am looking forward to see what they do as I am putting more of the responsibility into their hands. I am hoping they can make some creative concept maps while doing the simple machines project that you read about in the discussion. Thanks for your response.
Melissa
I think your commeents on organizing your thoughts are right on the mark. It is an advanced skill for your third graders, but also for high school students and even (dare I say) for college students. I remember taking notes in college and rereading them and how scattered they were at times. Throughout my education I was never taught specifically how to take notes.
ReplyDeleteAt our school many teachers use Cornell notes and we are asked to use them.
A very important part of notetaking is actually going back and reading them. I know a majority of high school students spend very little or no time going over there notes and studying. Most of them take notes because they are required to. The purpose of notes and graphic organizers is to go back and think about what you have learned and are learning.
I like your post, it made me think about using cues and graphic organizers more.
Thank you
Scott
Scott,
DeleteI like your point about going back and reading their notes. That might be an important tip to include while teaching my students how to take notes. We have been doing a lot of modeling and even some practice between groups of students. My students are already improving and I can tell they have a higher understanding of what note taking is already. I will be sure to include that bit of information when going over what they need to do while taking notes. Thank you for your tip.
Melissa
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteYour point of view and ideas are interesting to me especially because we both most recently taught third grade. I could not agree more with your thoughts on teaching summarizing. My students seem to have the same issues with finding the important details. One method I have them do to help is ask themselves the following question about any detail- would this detail change the story? if so, it must be important, if not, it is most likely supporting or to add interest. I enjoy using concept maps and outlines as well to help them distingush important details.
Nicole
Nicole,
DeleteThank you for your tips on summarizing. Any tips are good tips. You never know what will work with a student. I will be sure to try that with our next story.
Melissa
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI teach 4th grade and found a lot of similarities between the problems you have with note taking in your class and the problems I face in my own classroom. I too work throughout the year with teaching my students how to take notes. I don't know about you, but my students take an ELA state test and on one day of it they have to listen to me read a story and take notes on it. They then need to use those notes to answer some questions and complete an essay. Having to take notes this way adds an extra set of difficulties for my students as they have nothing to look at to take notes from. So, along with teaching my students to differentiate between useful and not useful, I have to teach them how to quickly paraphrase. This is very tricky at first and as a class we get a good laugh at what some people write down at first because they are trying to write so fast their sentences don't make sense. I was wondering do your students do anything like that when they learn about summarizing and note-taking?
On a different note, I also do not really like using KWL charts.
Great post,
Chad
Chad,
DeleteOur state test currently is just based on reading. They read a variety of text and have to answer selected response and brief constructed response questions. So, their note taking skills do not necessarily come into play on our state assessment. Quite frankly, your state assessments sounds like they would be difficult for some adults. However, it is a skill that they will need in the future when they have more and more classes that are based on lecture. It is hard enough for my students to take notes with something to look at. However, I am very proud at how far they have come with our note taking skills.
Melissa