Advance+Organizers

Courtney van Emmerik

An advance organizer is information that is presented to students before or prior to learning. This Marzano Research Strategy is used to interpret and organize new information and can help with better retention of new material. According to Ausubel (an American Psychologist) in his Subsumption Theory, “This theory is based on the idea that learning is facilitated, if the learner can find meaning in the new information. If a connection can be made between the new information and previous knowledge, the learning experience will become more meaningful to the learner. Therefore, the new information will be learned.”

This strategy is implemented by the teacher and can be done in quite a few different ways. Some ways include:
 * A brief introduction to the topic. A speech given by the teacher to introduce the new topic.
 * Asking students to discuss what they already know about the topic before learning any new material.
 * Having students “skim through” information in a textbook. This acts as a preview so the students know what will be coming.
 * Graphic Organizers such as “KWL" (What I Know, What I Want to Know, and What I Learned) Charts. Shown below.



With the triggering of prior knowledge, students are able to learn and retain new information as well as predict what might be coming next.