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Graphics and Learning
As growing numbers of people today are, by nature or by experience, visually oriented, there are few people who do not profit from graphics that accompany text. Illustrations, charts, diagrams, and photos can often explain more than words. They make abstract ideas more concrete and understandable; they make information memorable; and they can facilitate learning. Following are some examples that many students and teachers have found useful. These are in addition to the Mindscaping processes described in Nancy Margulies' article.
CLUSTERING
As a former language arts teacher, I used to be so convinced that my students should plan and organize their ideas in outline form before formal writing that I would ask them to turn in their outlines with their papers. At one point, I found that some of my students thought in much more global ways, and wrote their essays first. Only afterwards did they create the outlines. There is clearly a difference between field independent learners, who look at details and eventually come to a conclusion, and field-sensitive learners who need to see the whole picture before attending to the details. I believe this in part explains the difference between the outline-first, and outline-after learners. For many students, outlines are a useful tool, but for others they constrain their thinking.
It is of course important to organize one's ideas before formal writing, but I now believe that all students should have the choice of whether to do so in outline or in some graphic form. This process may be done by hand, or there are a number of computer programs, such as Inspiration, that can translate outlines into mindmaps and vice versa. Some years ago I had the privilege of meeting Gabriel Rico, author of Writing the Natural Way, when she spoke at one of our conferences. She introduced us to a technique she called clustering, that is a method of individual brainstorming in visual form.
Clustering can be used not only to organize, but also to generate ideas. It is done quickly and can be messy, so field independent, more linear thinkers are often uncomfortable with the process. For them, an outline remains the preferred method of organizing ideas. On the other hand, field sensitive learners enjoy the freedom they have to use the clustering process in a variety of ways.
As an introduction to the process, students may be asked to write a central topic, circled, in the center of a page; to work quickly, without censoring any ideas that may come; and to fill a whole page with their ideas, each circled and linked. (You will be surprised by how many forms the clusters will take.) Only then are the students asked to look over their work, cross out ideas that are irrelevant or not useful, then number the ideas in the order they wish to discuss them in their essays. They may then create a formal outline, or work directly from the cluster to writing or word-processing, as Gabriel Rico does herself.
The description above refers to a formal use of the process; however, clustering may be used to generate ideas for creative writing in the form of poetry, stories, or even novels. This process jump-starts creativity! I have often used it in my workshops and have been astounded at the depth and complexity of thoughts that emerge.
To introduce a creative writing project, ask the students to begin with a single word either of their choice or from a word you give. Ask them to circle the word in the center of a blank page, then as quickly as possible, create a cluster of words or ideas, each circled and linked back to the center word or word preceding it, such as this example. (1)
Notice that the words can form a string, or circle around and come back, or just be haphazardly placed. When the page has been filled, or when students feel what Rico calls a "felt shift," then ask them to write a few words below the cluster. Be careful to avoid specifying a form, such as poetry, but often a poem or metaphoric ideas, or even the plot of a short story may emerge. The following poem, written from the cluster above, came quickly and to the author's great surprise.
Light and Dark
What words can create light
When darkness fills the soul?
Your words of love
Can light my eyes with bright tears
That dissolve the dark
And fill my soul with peace.What is wonderful about this process is that it is so adaptable for a large number of uses by students of all ages and ability levels. I have even used the process as a reading-readiness activity with preschoolers. For example, after a field trip to a zoo, I asked what the children saw and as they spoke I made a cluster on the board of their observations. Then I asked what they thought the animals were feeling and made a cluster of those ideas. Then I asked about their feelings and made another cluster. From the material I had written on the board, I asked the children to dictate a poem from the ideas they had generated. They had no trouble referring to words I had circled, even though some could barely read and others not at all. This is what they wrote:
A Trip to the Zoo
Happy animals, running and playing
But some of them are sad.
They live inside the bars
And they can't get out.
Some of them don't have a playground.
I thought about them at recess today.SPIDER MAP
Another way to generate or organize ideas is the spider map that allows fuller development of ideas. Instead of putting single words in a circle, the lines can accommodate full sentences, with supporting details, as in the following example: (2)
WRITING CHART
For those students who do not find clustering a useful tool, the writing chart offers a more organized and linear way to prepare a writing project. This is an especially useful process for those who have trouble with the mechanics of writing an essay or report. The chart helps them to see the importance of a strong introduction, topic sentences that are well supported with details, and a logical conclusion. It helps them to organize their ideas into a final, polished, form. A writing chart might look like this: (3)
CONCEPT MAPPING
In their book, Learning to Learn, Joseph Novak and Bob Gowin describe another kind of graphic called "concept mapping." Novak is a professor of biology at Cornell University and uses this process to explain complicated scientific processes to his students. The concept maps look something like flow charts, and show the relationships between ideas or the sequence of events. They are also useful as an assessment device to show whether students clearly have understood what was taught. They look like this: (4)
Concept-mapping can be used at all levels, in any subject-matter area, including science, math (describing various problem-solving processes), language arts (summarizing the plot of a story or novel), history (describing what led to a particular historical event), shop (describing how to fix an engine), or home economics (describing how to prepare a recipe.)
FISHBONE MAPS
These graphics can also be used to show the sequence of events, such as the causes of the Civil War or the erosion of land in desert areas. Fishbone maps clearly show relationships, cause and effect, and organize large amounts of complex material into understandable form. They may look like this: (5)
EVENTS CHAINS
This is another way of showing the connection between events and outcomes, such as conflicts between two countries, or relationships between groups of people, or the combining of chemical compounds. Events chains look might like this (6a) or this (6b) or this (6c).
CYCLE CIRCLE
An even simpler way of showing how one event or action leads to another is by using a cycle circle. It is a good beginning graphic organizer for younger students who might, for example, be studying the water cycle. It looks like this (7)
CONTINUUM SCALE
This graphic is useful for showing such information as timelines of historical events, or population growth, or ecological developments. The continuum scale can be simple or complex, used with text only or made into large, colorful, illustrated posters. (8)
CHARTS AND POSTERS
Colorful charts and posters are indispensable ways of helping students, and teachers too, focus on a current unit of study, sub-topics and their relationships to each other, and their importance to the subject in general. Because we often no longer pay close attention to what does not change around us, these visuals should be changed frequently. Teachers may wish to post the information on a new unit, but as the course progresses students themselves can prepare them as a part of their studies. (See another article on this topic, on this website at http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/literacy/bear.htm)
UNIT ORGANIZER
This instructional tool, developed by The Strategic Learning Center, is used to help students understand the relationships between the current unit and other units, the parts of the unit, relationships between segments of the unit content, tasks that need to be completed to learn the information in the unit, and learning objectives for the unit. It co-constructed by the teacher and students at the beginning of a unit when the teacher and students simultaneously fill in information on blank Unit Organizer forms. Two examples of completed Unit Organizers for a unit on the Civil War follow: (9) and (10) For further information on the Strategic Learning Center, see the article "Strategic Instruction Model" in the Teaching and Learning Strategies area.
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