What is an Advance Organizer?
An instructional unit that is used before direct instruction, or before a new topic; this is sometimes called a hook, set induction, or anticipatory set.
Introduced in advance of direct instruction
Presented at a higher level of abstraction than the information presented later
Designed to bridge the gap between what the learner already knows and what she needs to know
Why?
The function of the advance organizer is to provide scaffolding for the incorporation and retention of more detailed and differentiated material. Their main purpose is to influence cognitive processing in several ways, including but not limited to providing prerequisite knowledge or helping learners to make connections between incoming information and prior knowledge.
As educators and learners, we know and fully understand that the content being taught is not always learned. Instead, it is memorized (and typically stored in our short term memory). Advance organizers are a tool to enhance retention, as well as to promote transfer and life-long learning.
Definitions of Advance Organizers
1. An instructional unit that is used before direct instruction, or before a new topic; this is sometimes called a hook, set induction, or anticipatory set.
2. A model for helping students organize information by connecting it to a larger cognitive structure that reflects the organization of the discipline itself.
3. A visual, title, graph or question which presents a structure for the new material by relating it to the learner's existing knowledge.
4. Any information, such as an introduction, that tells readers what they’re about to read.
How are Advance Organizers different from Graphic Organizers?
A graphic organizer is an example of an advance organizer if used in the proper manner. In order to be an advance organizer, a graphic organizer must be used prior to the lesson and somehow provide the information that students will be learning during direct instruction.
Use of advance organizers has shown, through several research studies, to improve levels of understanding and recall
Classroom Instruction that Works by Robert J. Marzano, Debra J. Pickering, and Jane E. Pollock
