Graphic Organizers

Graphic organizers are learning devices that encourages students to process information using both words and graphic images. Graphic organizers can be used for a variety of teaching and learning contexts, including:

  • note-taking to help students retain and retrieve information
  • support and organization of lecture content – a way for instructors to synthesize the content of a lecture to students
  • essay writing, as a tool to organize thoughts and ideas
  • in groups, for students to process or review course content

With graphic organizers, learners are taught how to arrange content visually in order to understand how various course topics and concepts are related.

Watch a 2:12 minute video from the K. Patricia Cross Academy which describes how to use one type of graphic organizer, Sketch Notes with students:

References:

Banke, R. (15 February 2016). Using small group concept mapping for active learning. University of Notre Dame. https://sites.nd.edu/kaneb/2016/02/15/using-small-group-concept-mapping-for-active-learning/

Duckworth, S. (n.d.). Sketchnoting resources for teachers [Google doc]. Google. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OZNkvgo7z6RYzBjTc_FngJeXt9vCIGeouLfiXHv5Zpk/edit

Gonzalez, J. (22 October 2017). The great and powerful graphic organizer [blog post]. Cult of Pedagogy.
https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/graphic-organizer/

The K. Patricia Cross Academy. (n.d.). Sketch notes [Video]. YouTube.
https://kpcrossacademy.org/techniques/sketch-notes/