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What is Graphic Organizer?

A graphic organizer is a visual and graphic display that depicts the relationships between facts, terms,

and or ideas within a learning task. Graphic organizers are also sometimes referred to as knowledge maps,concept maps, story maps, cognitive organizers, advance organizers, or concept diagrams.y

http://www.graphic.org/index.html

Advantages of Using Graphic Organizers.

The research of Hawk (1986) support the strategy of graphic organizer because it provides: 1) Ageneral view of learning materials; 2) A reference point for putting new vocabulary and main concepts in aorderly sample; 3) An important clues of information; 4) A visual stimulation of words and oral information;5) A concise examination tool. Employing a variety of graphic organizers such as charts, diagrams, mapsand webs are example of visual displays that are very useful to facilitate learning and memory (Fulk,2000).

Creation of the above forces pupils to review and manipulate learned information (Kinchin, 2000). Graphicorganizers can also be used as a pre-teaching or post teaching strategy for the purpose of introducing or reinforcing the key concepts or main ideas and how they might related (Tierney, Readence & Dishner,1985, as cited in Hill, 1994)

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Hawk, P. P. (1986). Using graphic organizers to increase achievement in middle school lifescience. Science Education, 70, 81-87.

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Fulk, B. (2000). Make instruction more memorable [Electronic Version]. Intervention in school &clinic, 35 (3), 183-185.

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Kinchin, I.M. (2000). Concept mapping in biology [Electronic Version]. Journal Of BiologyEducation, 34(2), 61-69.

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Hill, R.C. (1994). Concept mapping, graphic organizing and structuring: visual techniques for functional content-centered reading comprehension [Electronic Version]. Education, 115(1), 26-31.

PICTURE IT (PICIT) Method

PICIT method is pictorial way of constructing knowledge and organizing information. PICIT is adoptinggraphic organizers and integrated them by adding colour coding and pictures to a graphic organizer tofurther increase the utility and readability of the visual display. It helps the pupils convert and compress alot of seemingly disjointed information into a structured, simple to read, highlighted information and graphicdisplay. The resulting visual display conveys complex information in a simple way to understand.

Enhancing Comprehension through PICIT MethodThe process of converting a mass of data by using PICIT method gives the pupils an increased

understanding and insight into the topic at hand. To create it, the pupils must concentrate on therelationships between the items and examine the meanings attached to each of it. While creating on their own, the pupils must also prioritize the information, determining which parts of the material are the mostimportant and should be focused upon and where each item should be placed in it.

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The creation of PICIT will also may help the pupils to generate ideas as they develop and note their thoughts visually. The possibilities associated with a topic become clearer as pupils ideas are classifiedvisually. However, the precise point of implementation does appear to influence the degree of PICITmethods effectiveness. In their comprehensive review, Moore and Readence (1984) report that the point of implementation is a crucial factor in determining the magnitude of improvement in learning outcome. When

graphic organizers were used as a pre-teaching activity, average effect sizes were small. In contrast,graphic organizers used as a follow up to teaching yielded somewhat large improvements in learningoutcomes. Thus, efforts to improve learning outcomes may be more successful when graphic organizersare introduced after the learning material.

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Moore, D. W., & Readence, J. E. (1984). A quantitative and qualitative review of graphic organizer research. Journal of Educational Research, 78(1), 11-17.