This study investigated the effects of advanced organizer instruction on 3- to 5-year-old preschoolers' learning of general prosocial skill concepts, rules for using prosocial skills, and spontaneous prosocial behavior. The six prosocial skills considered included cooperation, sharing, taking turns, helping, demonstration of awareness of another's…

The purpose of this paper is to: (1) explore some possible explanations for the lack of empirical support of advance organizers; (2) suggest a plan for improving the empirical research on advance organizers; and (3) recommend some further investigations needed in the area of advance organizers. Some explanations for this lack of support are…

The effects of graphic preorganizers (structured overviews) and prereading vocabulary instruction upon literal (lower level) and inferential/evaluative (upper level) comprehension was studied, using six sections of college students enrolled in a developmental reading and study skills course. The class sections were randomly assigned to use either…

An investigation was conducted comparing six college students who used cognitive mapping to two control groups, each with five students, who used a self-selected study strategy and reading. Cognitive mapping is a study strategy that displays the meaning of text through a diagram depicting the interconnectedness of the ideas in the text. Results…

The central feature of language is symbolic meaning, and the act of reading is a part of the symbolic process that characterizes human life. Meaning occurs as a result of interpretation in a context, not as a result of response or reaction. Signs have a literal meaning in a specific context, while symbols have a figurative meaning in an implicit…

This study examined the ability of junior high school students to use advance information when making semantic category decisions. The subjects, eight good readers and eight poor readers, identified paired words as "same" or "different" in category, with some words more highly associated with the category than others--in the "fruit" category, for…

Using student ability, measured by grade point average and cognitive structure, as measured by the number of high school and college courses in science and mathematics, as predictor variables, the investigator attempted to determine the reliability of the use of advance organizers to enhance the retention of meaningful concepts. Students enrolled…

Attempts to analyze the effects of advance organizers on an environmental education unit, assess retention of the instructional material one year later, and determine if changes in perceptions of a woodland occurred. (GA)

The study compared two approaches to content area instruction with intermediate grade learning disabled students (N=24). One treatment presented information using an advance organizer in the form of a visual spatial display, the other via text. Results indicated significant positive effects for the group taught with visual displays. (Author/JW)

Discusses five instructional strategies for increasing the meaningfulness of technical or scientific information. These include organization of prose, use of concrete analogies as advance organizers, use of inserted questions in prose, elaboration activities such as note-taking and discovery learning. (JN)

The effects of three types of advance organizer lessons (containing high-order social studies concepts, high-order rules for hierarchical classification, or both) on learning social studies concepts and hierarchical classification, as defined by Piaget, were evaluated for 237 rural children in kindergarten, third, and fifth grades. (Author/MH)

Examines the postsecondary research base for content area reading strategies. Compares findings to earlier studies of secondary schools. Finds semantic mapping and graphic organizers were more effective for secondary than postsecondary students, although most secondary students were not given instructions for the strategies used. Calls for further…

Investigates the effect of a directed-inquiry approach to learning science process skills and scientific problem solving in the high school biology laboratory. Reports no main effect of the approach but an interaction effect of the approach and cognitive development. (Author/YP)

Two studies of the relationship between learner interest and advance organizers (AOs) with test performance were conducted: one with 33 and one with 66 undergraduates. Although the AO had no effect on test performance, student interest appeared affected by the presence of an AO. (SLD)