Does the specific structure of advance organizers influence learning outcomes? In the first experiment, 48 psychology students were randomly assigned to three differently structured advance organizers: a well-structured, a well-structured and key-concept emphasizing, and a less structured advance organizer. These were followed by a sorting task, a…

Scope and Method of Study: Factors that might contribute to teachers' reflection on their teaching were studied by purposively selecting 72 of 100 volunteers who were teachers in one PK-12 school district. Four groups of 18 were organized. All were administered the opinionnaire both pre and post. Also, all 72 had one of their instructional…

Kicking off a new ASCD series based on Robyn R. Jackson's best-seller "Never Work Harder Than Your Students and Other Principles of Great Teaching," this guide helps teachers become an expert in providing proactive learning support--what great teachers do to give students the right kind of assistance and get those who are struggling back on…

The study compared participant comprehension of foreign language video content using two advance organizer (AO) strategies while exploring the benefits of AOs as proficiency increases. Participants were 50 advanced-beginner Spanish college students in three sections. Collaborative reading condition participants read a target language narrative…

This exploratory study investigated student reaction to the use of cartoons as advance organizers for online discussions in an online course. A convenience sample of 15 students participated in the study by contributing cartoons, participating in online discussions, and completing a survey. Overall, survey results indicated student reaction to the…

This study investigated the impact of technology-based advance organizers (TBAOs) on the academic performance of 240 4th grade English learners (ELs) participating in a science class in School in the Park (SITP), a museum-school collaboration. While SITP provides a rich, hands-on learning environment, ELs face significant linguistic challenges in…

Authentic language learning materials become prevalent in foreign and second language (L2) classrooms. Since these materials are not altered to suit the proficiency level or needs of L2 learners, they are likely to cause difficulties in comprehension. The purpose of this research was to examine the effect of advance organizers in conjunction with…

An experimental field study at a German university was conducted in order to test the effectiveness of an integrated learning environment to improve the acquisition of knowledge about empirical research methods. The integrated learning environment was based on the combination of instruction-oriented and problem-oriented design principles and…

Research has shown that the use of pre-reading activities, such as graphic or advance organizers can positively affect student acquisition of vocabulary and meaning when reading new concepts presented in text. One particularly effective strategy, semantic mapping, can significantly impact students who previously had a lack of prior knowledge on…

It is not enough to be great at sharing information in a large classroom setting. To be an effective teacher you must be able to meaningfully engage your students with their peers and with the content. And you must do this regardless of class size or content. The issues of teaching effectively in large classroom settings have presented ongoing…

This study investigated the effects of using two types of written advance organizers, key sentences and key vocabulary, on the improvement of EFL learners' listening comprehension. 108 second year university students at the higher and lower listening proficiency levels were randomly assigned to one control group and two experimental groups. Prior…

This quantitative study evaluates the impact of using robotics as a content organizer to teach a mathematic concept between math and technology education classes in a middle school of the students beliefs and interests toward STEM concepts. The analysis was based upon pre and post belief and interest survey responses by the participating middle…

Video technology is commonly used in L2 classrooms, but it is rarely used in assessing L2 listening, and there is little research investigating how L2 listeners process video texts (spoken texts that include the visual channel). The purpose of this study is to examine how L2 test-takers interact with a video listening test: the rate L2 listening…

This article reports on a design study aimed at achieving that students experience their learning as meaningful. Two conditions for meaningful activities were identified: (1) students should be motivated to attain a certain goal and (2) they should have rudimentary conceptual and procedural knowledge of how to attain that goal. Together, these…

As technology continues to evolve, authentic multimedia-based teaching materials are widely used in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. However, they may lie beyond most language learners' proficiency level. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of advance organizers in conjunction with the cognitive theory of…