Using the CSF in the Middle Years
This publication was produced for the Board of Studies. From 1 March 2001 the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) replaced the Board of Studies.
Using cognitive organisers in the middle years
David Brown (Education Consultant)
Many teachers who have worked with students at upper, primary and junior secondary level might be inclined to agree with the comment that:
Surviving adolescence is no small matter; neither is surviving adolescents. It's a hard age to be and a hard age to teach. The worst things that ever happened to anybody happen every day. But some of the best things happen too, and they're more likely to happen when teachers understand the nature of kids and teach in ways that help students grow. (Atwell 1987; p. 25)
Several decades of world-wide thinking about research into and discussion of the middle years of schooling has certainly provided educators with a clearer understanding of the unique needs and interests of adolescent students. Issues of curriculum relevance, student motivation and appropriate organisational structures have been highlighted, and some Victorian schools are among the many around the world attempting to address these and other issues through a range of exciting initiatives which are currently being tried and developed.
The move is towards a more integrated, less fragmented curriculum and innovative organisational structures designed to effectively address the needs of learners in the middle years of schooling. While it may take some time for large scale initiatives to be refined and implemented at the whole school and systems levels, there is a great deal that teachers can do in their daily interaction with students in the classroom.
Current research describing how children learn parallels teachers' descriptions of successful learning experiences. Based on what teachers are saying about their successes and what researchers are reporting about their findings, effective learning takes place when students:
- want to learn and need to learn;
- realise what they have learned;
- enjoy what they are doing;
- can relate what they are doing to their total experience;
- are able to take risks;
- feel a sense of support;
- talk about their new knowledge with others;
- feel good about themselves;
- have opportunities to work with others;
- get to make some decisions; and
- have a chance to touch, smell, see, hear, feel, think.
(Politano & Davies 1994; p.5)
When teachers reflect on their classroom practice, it is vital that they acknowledge their successes to those strategies, techniques and procedures that they currently use and that they know are effective and worth keeping. Good teachers will be able to identify many of these and other learning experiences which need only minor modifications in order for them to become more powerful and effective. It is useful to consider changes that not only make a significant difference, but are manageable in the context of the enormous demands on teachers' time and energy and can be implemented within existing organisational structures.
One example is the use of graphic organisers to enhance student learning and thinking. The ability to organise ideas and information is fundamental to effective thinking. Graphic displays or cognitive maps assist the development of organisational skills for learners of all ages and abilities and across all content areas. Cognitive organisers provide a holistic picture and show relationships and interrelationships between concepts. They help students to:
- represent abstract or implicit information in more concrete forms;
- depict relationships among facts and concepts;
- generate elaborate ideas; and
- relate new information to prior knowledge.
The use of cognitive organisers is a powerful technique for enabling students to interact personally with information (they are tools which help to make thinking visible for both the student and the teacher).
Traditional linear notetaking for summarising and organising material uses mainly left brain skills. For many students, the effort of writing notes from books or presentations can limit learning by blocking out other ways of processing the material.
Many teachers have become aware of the value of concept maps, webbing diagrams and mindmaps as effective procedures for making notes and representing understanding of ideas and the relationships between ideas. These forms of graphic representation are more consistent with the way the human brain works than are the traditional linear forms of notetaking. The brain does not tend to store information in neat lines or columns. It stores information by pattern and association, and it is these processes that are used to present and record information in a concept map.
Concept mapping is a procedure which helps students understand connections between important concepts and as well as improving understanding of individual concepts. In a concept map, some key ideas are arranged on paper and each idea/concept is connected by lines to as many other concepts as possible. On each connecting line is written the nature of the link, preferably using the minimum number of words to clearly express the connection. This procedure can also be used as a device for diagnostic, formative or summative assessment.
Some students, particularly those with strong visual-spatial intelligence, learn to use concept maps quite quickly, and can become reasonably competent after three or four attempts. Other students take longer to develop confidence and competence and may be assisted by becoming familiar with simpler forms of graphic organisers and picture summaries.
In a useful resource for teachers, Langrehr (1990) provides many examples of simple forms of picture summaries. Two of these examples are outlined below. These strategies are not only powerful alternatives to the familiar technique of 'read the text and answer the questions', but are also effective ways of leading students into using concept maps.
The first example is called a network map. In this instance, the teacher prepares the diagram and includes the statement on the connecting lines. This takes the teacher no longer than it would to prepare a set of good questions. The students respond to the text (or video/audio tape/map/picture) by placing key words in the appropriate boxes. The strategy is very helpful to those students whose literacy skills are not strong (they are able to demonstrate an understanding of the information by writing only a few key words. All students are practising and gaining some insights into representing ideas in a 'map' format.
Example 1: Network map
Read the information on rats and mice and complete the network map.
Rats and mice
Many mammals belong to the group called rodents or gnawing animals. They have front teeth shaped like chisels that they use to gnaw through tough food such as nuts, bark and roots. Squirrels, porcupines, chipmunks, and guinea pigs are rodents, but the most common kinds are the rats and mice. Rats and mice are pests. They eat our food and spread disease. The Black Death was a disease spread by the black rat, which came into Europe from central Asia in the Middle Ages.
Rats have climbed into ships, and have been carried all over the world. The house mouse is another rodent that once lived only in central Asia and is now found everywhere.
There are many other kinds of rats and mice in different parts of the world. They usually live in burrows or among plants and come out only at night. They are seldom seen by people. Yet if crops are grown nearby, the rats and mice will probably eat them.
Diagram A
Langrehr calls the second example a concept layer map. In this case, the teacher constructs the box diagram and lists the key words which the students will use in responding to the text. Students are required to indicate relationships by writing one or two words on the lines linking the boxes. Students who struggle with literacy are well supported by the provision of key words with which to respond.
Example 2: Concept layer map
Read the information about insects and complete the concept layer map using the words listed. Write one or two connecting words on the lines linking the boxes.
EGGS THORAX LARVAE WINGS BONES LEGS
Most insects lay eggs, although a few give birth to live young. Some young insects, called nymphs, look like their parents. Others have soft bodies and look like worms. They are called larvae, and change into adults inside a pupa. Butterflies and moths grow in this way.
There are over a million different kinds of insects in the world. They are found almost everywhere, from the icy polar regions to the tropical forests.
The body of an insect is divided into three sections. The head is small and has antennae and eyes. The thorax is the middle part and carries the wings and legs. Behind the thorax is the abdomen, the largest part of the body.
All insects have six legs. Spiders and ticks have eight legs and so are not insects. Most insects can fly, and most have two pairs of wings.
Insects do not have bones, their bodies are stiffened by a hard skin. Because the skin is hard, an insect cannot grow bigger gradually as we do. It has to moult, or shed its skin, and replace it by a new and larger skin. (Our World Encyclopaedia)
Diagram B
Bellanca & Fogarty (1991) have described many other visual organisers. Helping students to understand and use these simple tools for organising information is not only a powerful process in itself, but it is also building the foundations for an important aspect of student thinking.
These examples are intended to illustrate that there are opportunities for teachers to identify and explore manageable changes to the quality of teaching in the classroom. Whatever curriculum initiatives and organisational structures eventuate from the continuing search for ways to address the needs of students in the middle years of schooling, the significance of the role of the teacher should never be underestimated.
Reference list
- Atwell, N. 1987, In the Middle, Heinemann, Melbourne.
- Baird, J. & Northfield J. 1992, Learning from the PEEL experience, Monash University Printing Services, Melbourne.
- Bellanca, J. & Fogarty, R. 1991, Blueprints for thinking in the cooperative classroom, Hawker Brownlow Education, Melbourne.
- Butler, K. 1993, Learning and teaching style in theory and practice, Hawker Brownlow Education, Melbourne.
- Langrehr, J. 1990, Teaching thinking strategies, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne.
- Politano, C. & Davies, A. 1994, Multiage and more, Penguin Publishers, Melbourne.
