The Holy Grail: The Last Five Years
By Rosalind LaRocque, Ph.D.
There is a bird called Sankofa, which is portrayed as looking back. The cultural significance of this bird follows the philosophy that to move forward, we must contemplate our past. There is a holy grail, which purports that only research in the last five years matters, with no regard for the research that superseded or planted the seed for the “new research.” Frankly, it is not about the date of the research, it is about the theory and/or the concept. We are overly obsessed with “new” and “glossy” in education, while the medical world, for example, ensures that its practitioners build on what existed before, to better inform new and updated practices. In this blog, we will examine two areas (and there are several) whose research dares qualify them to be classified as “dated” research.
Graphic Organizers
M. E. Baron (1646‐1716) also discovered that as early as the 13th century, graphic organizers were in existence. By the late 17th century, Baron reported that a mathematician by the name of Leibniz produced graphic organizers to scaffold understanding. Much of Leibniz’s work was not published.
In a paper titled “On the Diagrammatic and Mechanical Representation of Propositions and Reasoning” by John Venn (1834‐1923), Venn diagrams were introduced. Well, who knew? Graphic organizers received attention as a result of Ausubel’s (1960) research on the benefits of using an advance organizer to enhance learners’ acquisition of new knowledge. But his name never emerges when we talk about graphic organizers. In fact, we speak only of Venn, given the popularity of the Venn diagram. The following synopsis of the works of various researchers, underscores the existence of graphic organizers, long before the one designed by John Venn; but educational institutions want research that exists within five years of the present time.
· Ausubel (1963) believed that the manner in which knowledge is represented can influence learning. The appropriate organizer can help students form relationships between previously acquired knowledge and new concepts. From that point on, the list of researchers supporting graphic organizers is extensive.
· Alvermann and Boothby (1986), Craig Darch, Doug Carnine and Edward Kameenui (1986) and Steven Horton, Thomas Lovitt and Donna Bergerud (1990) have shown that graphic organizers can enhance content comprehension.
· Thomas Lovitt and Steven Horton (1994) attest to the use of graphic organizers to organize and highlight essential content information and/or vocabulary, particularly the use of concept maps.
· Chien Chin-Win cite the work of Meyen, Vergason and Whelan (1996)who states that graphic organizers depict a visual, organized display that makes “information easier to understand and learn.”
· By 2000, on separate occasions, researchers (Gloria Dye, 2000; Gagnon and Maccini, 2000) supported the use of graphic organizers in separate research pieces. It was felt that graphic organizers have great potential for students with learning disabilities.
· More recently, Robert Marzano, Debra Pickering and Jane E. Pollock (2001) in their book Classroom Instruction that Works, state that graphic organizers combine the use of both the linguistic and nonlinguistic modes of learning and is one of the nine strategies with large effect sizes.
· In addition, Brad W. Baxendell (2003), talks about the Consistency, Coherence and Creativeness, graphic organizers bring to the learning.
Today, graphic organizers are being marketed as “thinking maps,” to assist students in organizing information in the way that the brain functions. However, the term, graphic organizer, the thinking behind Thinking Maps, none of it is new.
Classroom Management
Classroom management, for example, has always focused on rules, procedures and consequences. In 1980, researchers Evertson, Emmer and Anderson defined classroom management as “actions teachers take to control misbehavior or maintain order.” The key terms here are control and maintain order. Eleven years later, Evertson and another researcher defined classroom management as “actions teachers take to create, implement and maintain a classroom that supports learning.”
Daniel Pink, in Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, and more recent researchers ask us to focus on a classroom learning environment where students learn because they are motivated and not out of compliance. A similar sentiment is expressed by Evertson in an article published in 1995. Can you imagine the confusion if someone reads Pink and the new concept underpinning restorative practices without knowledge of the traditional underpinnings of classroom management? In fact, the “new” approaches are asking that we adjust what exists, not refrain from implementing them.
Learning is like Velcro; we want it to stick. The brain likes to make connections, find patterns and chunk information. Moreover, learning and retention happens best when one can connect new knowledge with existing knowledge. If we keep looking at the “present” portion of the spectrum with no background knowledge, then what we create will be inadequate and education will experience a sense of compliance, not motivation. Such and environment cannot produce success.
References
Ausubel, D. G., (1963). “Cognitive Structure and the Facilitation of Meaningful Verbal Learning.” Volume: 14 issue: 2, page(s): 217–222. Issue published: June 1, 1963. https://doi.org/10.1177/002248716301400220
Alvermann, D. E., & P. R. Boothby (1986). Children’s Transfer of Graphic Organizer Instruction. Reading Psychology, 7, 87–100. Url: doi:10.1080/0270271860070203.
Brad W. Baxndell (2003). “Consistent, Coherent and Creative. The Three C’s of Graphic Organizers”. Accessible at https://www.bcpss.org/bbcswebdav/institution/ILT/SY13-14/Cycles%20of%20Professional%20Learning%20%20CYCLE%20TWO%20CONTENT/Professional%20Readings/Consisent%2C%20Coherent%2C%20Creative%20%20The%20Three%20C%27s%20of%20Graphic%20Organizers.pdf
Chien-Wen, C., (2012). Use of Graphic Organizers in a Language Teachers’ Professional Development. Accessed April 2018 at https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1079927.pdf
Darch, B. C., Doug Carnine, E. Kameenui (1986). “The Role of Graphic Organizers and Social Structure in Content Area Instruction.” Journal of Literacy Research — J LIT RES. 18. 275–295.10.1080/10862968609547576.
Dye, G. (2000). Graphic Organizes to the Rescue. Accessible at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299373680_Graphic_Organizers_to_the_Rescue
Evertson, C. M., Catherine H. Randolph (1995). Managing for Learning: Rules, Roles, and Meanings in a Writing Class. Accessed at https://www.jstor.org/stable/23870461
Horton, V. S., Thomas C. Lovitt, Donna Bergerud (1990). “The Effectiveness of Graphic Organizers for Three Classifications of Secondary Students in Content Area Classes”. Journal of Learning Disabilities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Journals.
Lovitt, C. T., Steven V. Horton (1994). “Strategies for Adapting Science Textbooks for Youth with Learning Disabilities”. Remedial and Special Education — REM SPEC EDUC. 15. 105–116.10.1177/074193259401500206.
Maccini, P., Joseph Calvin, (2005). “Math Graphic Organizers for Students with Disabilities”. Accessible at http://hdl.handle.net/1920/283
Marzano, R., Debra Pickering, Jane E. Pollock (2001). Classroom Instruction that Works. VI: ASCD.
Mrs. Rosalind LaRocque is an associate director who currently works at the American Federation of Teachers in the Educational Issues Department, designing professional development experiences for all educators. In 1975, she graduated with honors from the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados and began her teaching career preparing students for the external General Certificate Exam set by Cambridge. She later served as an examiner for the Caribbean Examinations Council. In 1980 she obtained her MA in Education from the University of the Virgin Islands and by 2003 completed her Ph.D. with Madison University.
LaRocque taught in St. Croix, Virgin Islands, served as Language Arts Department Chair and later became a Master Teacher, under a union-district sponsored program. By 1987, she became the local site coordinator for the AFT research-based program that brought researchers and practitioners together to develop professional development experiences for educators.
She is the recipient of several certificates of appreciation; awards from her students, school and community groups. Mrs LaRocque has written several articles, and her first book Reform vs Dreams, Preventing Student Failure was released February, 2012.
