Non-linguistic Representation

Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student AchievementCompiled from:

Classroom Instruction That Works!By: Robert J. Marzano, Debra J. Pickering & Jane E. Pollock

Curriculum & Staff Development Center

Training Outcomes

Non-Linguistic Representations

Definition Examples Classroom applications

Participant K-W-L

What do I already Know about

Non-Linguistic Representation?

What I Want to Know?

What I Learned.

Categories of Instructional Strategies That Affect Student Achievement

Category Ave. Effect Size (ES)

Percentile Gain

No. of ESs

Identifying Similarities and Differences 1.61 45 31

Summarizing & Note Taking 1.0 34 179

Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition .80 29 21

Homework & Practice .77 28 134

Nonlinguistic representations .75 27 246Cooperative Learning .73 27 122

Setting Objectives & Providing Feedback .61 23 408

Generating & Testing Hypotheses .61 23 63

Questions, Cues, and Advance Organizers .59 22 1,251

What do we know about how knowledge is stored?

Dual Coding Theory (Paivio, 1969, 1971, 1990)

Linguistic (language form) Non-linguistic (imagery form)

talk to students about new content have them read about new content students left on their own to generate mental imagery of new content

enhances students’ ability to represent and elaborate on knowledge using mental pictures or physical sensations (i.e., smell, taste, touch, movement, or sound).

What is Non-Linguistic Representation?

~ Generating mental pictures or physical models of information and creating graphic representations for the information.

What does research tell us about non-linguistic representations?

Explicitly engaging students in the creation of nonlinguistic representations stimulates and increases activity in the brain. (Gerlic & Jausovec, 1999)

Four Planning Questions for Instruction

What knowledge will students learn?

Which strategies will provide evidence that students have

learned that knowledge?

Which strategies will help students practice, review, and

apply that knowledge?

Which strategies will help students acquire and integrate

that knowledge?

Four Planning Questions for Instruction

What knowledge will students learn?

Which strategies will provide evidence that students have

learned that knowledge?

Which strategies will help students practice, review, and

apply that knowledge?

Which strategies will help students acquire and integrate

that knowledge?

Non-Linguistic Representations

Two Generalizations from the Research on Non-Linguistic Representation

1. A variety of activities produce nonlinguistic representations.

2. Nonlinguistic representations should elaborate on knowledge.

“Elaborate On”

Simply means “add to” knowledge.

Results in students not only understanding the knowledge in greater depth, but students also recalling it more easily.

Asking students to explain and justify their elaborations enhances learning.

Recommendations for Classroom Practice:Nonlinguistic Representations

Use graphic organizers to represent knowledge. Have students generate physical models of the

knowledge. Have students generate mental pictures of the

knowledge they are learning. Use pictures or pictographs to represent

knowledge. Have students engage in kinesthetic activities

representing the knowledge.

What does this strategy look like in the classroom?

Recommendation # 1:Use graphic organizers to represent knowledge.

The Six Types Purpose

1. Descriptive Vocabulary terms or facts.

2. Time Sequence Organize events in chronological order.

3. Process/cause-effect Organize information into a casual network leading to specific outcome or into a sequence of steps leading to a specific product.

Graphic Organizers, cont.

The Six Types Purpose

4. Episode Organize a large quantity of information about specific events.

5. Generalization/Principle Organize information into general statements with supporting examples.

6. Concept Organize information about a work or phrase that represents entire classes or categories.

Descriptive Patterns Organizer

Sample:

TOPIC

Fact

Fact

Fact

Fact

Fact Fact

Example of Descriptor Patterns Organizer Hurricanes

Hurricanes

Eyewall

Spin counterclockwise

In NorthernHemisphere

Seasonal Move heat from equatorial region

to higher latitudes

Spin clockwise

In Southern Hemisphere

Categorized by wind speed

Time Sequence Pattern Organizer Example

Sample: E

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Space Shuttle Program

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Process/Cause-Effect Patterns Example

Sample:

EFFECT

Process/Cause-Effect ExampleWorld Events Leading to the Vietnam War

Vietnam split into North (Communist) and South (Non-Communist)

U.S. Destroyer Maddox attacked in Gulf of Tonkin

U.S Support of South Vietnam

US Troops moved into

fight Vietnam Conflict

Gulf of Tonkin ResolutionCivil War in

Vietnam

Episode Pattern Organizer Example

Sample:

Person

EPISODE

DurationPlace

Time

Cause Effect

Person Person

Discovery of New World

Example using Discovery of New World

Christopher ColumbusQueen Isabella

Of Spain

Discovery of New World

Aug. 3, 1492 – Oct. 12, 1492

Atlantic Ocean

Aug. 1492

Seek a shorter, Western Route to

India

Colonization of the New World

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Generalization/Principle Patterns Example

Sample:

Example

Example

Example

Generalization/Principle

Generalization/Principle Patterns Mammals

Have hair

Warm-Blooded

Nourish young with milk

Characteristics of Mammals

Concept Patterns Example

ConceptExample

Example

Example

Characteristic

Example Example

Example

Characteristic

Example

Characteristic

Concept Patterns Example Using Hurricanes

HurricanesCategory One – Winds 74-95 mph

Weather Terms

Hurricane WatchHurricane Force Winds

expected within 36 hours

Hurricane WarningHurricane Force Winds

expected within 24 hours

Seasonal

June 1 – Nov. 30Wind Speed Classification

Category Two –

Winds 96-110 mph

Category Three–

111-130 Winds mph

Category Four–

131-155 Winds mph

Category Five –

greater than 155 Winds mph

Physical Models

~ Concrete representations of the knowledge learned

~ Think “Manipulatives”

~ Be sure the activity will extend students’ understanding of the knowledge

Recommendation # 2:

Make Physical models to represent knowledge

Example of Physical Model

To extend student learning of the concepts of proportion and the relationships between two- and three-dimensional shapes, a teacher asked the students to build a three-dimensional model to scale. The assignment:

Students were to choose any common object, identify a scale to use, draw a two-dimensional sketch, build the model and write two paragraphs explaining the proportional model and the process used.

A student chose to build a model of her cylindrical lip balm container and chose a scale of 4:1 for the model to the original. Some steps were easier than others in the process, but figuring out the circumference of the cylinder was a little harder. Working with construction paper, she was able to make the connection between the length of the rectangle she was rolling to create a cylinder and the circumference of the cylinder. This concrete representation solidified the connection between two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects.

Mental Pictures

~ Help students to create mental pictures by facilitating their thinking about the sounds, smells, tastes, and visual details associated with the knowledge.

~ The most direct way to generate nonlinguistic representations.

Recommendation # 3:

Have students generate mental pictures to represent knowledge they are learning.

Example of Mental Pictures

Help students create mental pictures by focusing them on the sounds, smells, tastes, and visual details associated with knowledge.

If you are teaching a unit on tides, have them “feel” the breeze on the beach, feel the sand in their toes, the sun on their faces, smell the water and the seashells, hear the birds and the waves hitting the shore.

Pictures or Pictographs

~ Pictograph is a drawing that uses symbols or symbolic pictures to represent information.

Recommendation # 4:

Draw pictures or pictographs to represent knowledge.

Pictographs ExampleWhat is your favorite cookie?

Chocolate Chip

Gingerbread Cookies

Sugar Cookies

Engage in Kinesthetic Activities

~ Physical movement activities that represent knowledge

~ how an electric circuit works, the way the planets move around the sun, the exchange of the oxygen and carbon dioxide in the body, adding and subtracting

Recommendation # 5:

Engage in kinesthetic activities that represent knowledge.

Kinesthetic activities

Modeling /Group activity:

Example of kinesthetic activities….

Stand up and imagine that you are 4th graders studying geometry topics. Use your arms to demonstrate the following: Radius of a circle Diameter of a circle Circumference of a circle Acute angle Obtuse angle Right angle

Three Key Points

1. We store what we know in a language form (linguistic) and an imagery form (nonlinguistic). The imagery mode is expressed as mental pictures or physical sensations.

Key Points, cont.

2. Teachers can take a variety of approaches to help students generate nonlinguistic representations of knowledge. These approaches have a strong positive effect on student achievement.

Key Points, cont.

3. Constructing nonlinguistic representations of knowledge helps students elaborate on their knowledge.

Reflection on Learning

1. What have you learned about nonlinguistic representation?

2. What questions do you have about nonlinguistic representations?

3. What changes might you make in your practice related to nonlinguistic representation?

4. What support might you need to make these changes?