EFFECTS OF GRAPHIC ORGANIZER INSTRUCTION ON 5TH-GRADE STUDENTS

This study was undertaken to examine two fundamental questions related to the use of graphic organizer instruction with fifth-grade, normal- achieving students: (a) Does graphic organizer instruction facilitate comprehension, recall, and transfer of information contained in an exp ository textbook? and (b) To what degree is explicit instruction neces sary for independent generation and use of graphic organizers by stude nts? In four experimental conditions, participants read social studies information with or without the graphic organizer. The conditions wer e further separated by the presence or absence of explicit instruction . Participants in the control condition received traditional basal ins truction, as prescribed by the teacher's manual of the district-adopte d textbook. Participants in all groups performed comparably on acquisi tion and retention measures. However, when required to read and recall novel social studies content, participants receiving the graphic orga nizer and explicit instruction performed better on the measure of tran sfer than students who received traditional basal instruction did.