This posting focuses on Steps One and Two of an Organization Strategy when the Organization Task in Step One uses a Matrix. The effective use of a matrix has also been called networking [1], and concept mapping [2]. Helping students use a matrix as an organizer is particularly effective when verbal target information is presented in expository material that is unfamiliar and difficult, such as commonly found in texts in mathematics, science and social science [3]. There is some evidence that using a matrix results in more learning than just reading a text, reading with key ideas extracted, or reading a text with an outline [4]. The instructional effectiveness of using a matrix when learning verbal target information may, in part, be because it provides a visual image. In effect, it utilizes two instructional strategies, Elaboration and Organization. A matrix can be constructed for most verbal information that can be outlined.
A matrix usually contains two parts, concepts and links. Concepts are ideas and links are the relationship among and between those ideas. Here is a simple matrix that has concepts in boxes and lines for links.
SCIENCE UNIT ON PLANTS
This illustration focuses on a small portion of a science unit on plants. It is for an objective that has been illustrated in previous posts in order to clarify the differences between using different instructional strategies for Recall Knowledge. The teacher begins Step One of an Organization Strategy with an Organization Task. First, the teacher has students read the portion from the textbook that is shown below.
Second, the teacher tells students that they will make a matrix about what they read about leaves in order to help them remember it. The matrix will have concepts circled and links with labeled lines. The teacher begins by writing the word plants at the top of the screen and circling it, saying that it is about plants. The teacher asks what plants have, when a student says, "Leaves," the teacher writes and circles the word leaves below the word plants. The teacher then draws a line with an arrow between the words plant and leaves, and labels the line, have. The teacher says that the line an arrow on the screen shows that plants have leaves. The teacher continues this process until the matrix on the screen shows all the information they read in the selection about leaves, and looks something like the matrix below.
Third, the teacher helps students encode the completed matrix by having them make their own copy. The teacher provides Organization Guidance by keeping all students on task completing their copying. When the teacher notices an error in the matrix, students are copying, he has them look at the completed matrix on the screen. He also praises students when they are correct.
The teacher begins Step Two of an Organization Strategy by removing the matrix from the screen and giving students a Recall-Practice Task. Students put their maps away. They will write their answers to the questions the teacher will show on the screen. The teacher shows these questions.
1. What gives leaves their green color?
2. What is the lamina of a leaf?
3. What is the petiole of a leaf?
4. What does chlorophyll do?
5. What two things do veins do?
The teacher provides Recall-Practice Guidance by walking around the room and watching students as they write their answers. When students have difficulty recalling an answer, the teacher guides them in thinking back to the matrix they wrote earlier. If they still have trouble, the teacher can provide more explicit guidance by having them look back briefly at their matrix.
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1. Dansereau, D.F. (1985) Learning strategy research. In J.W. Segal, S.F. Chipman, & R. Glaser (Eds.), Thinking and learning skills (Vol. 1, pp. 209-240.
2. (For example). Novak, J.D., Gowin, D.B., & Johansen, G. T. (1983). The use of concept mapping and knowledge Vee mapping with junior high school science students. Science Education, 67, 625-645.
3. (For example). Armbruster, B.B., & Anderson, T.H. (1984). Mapping: Representing informative text diagrammatically. In C.D. Holley, & D.F. Dansereau (Eds.), Spatial learning strategies (pp. 189-209). New York: Academic Press.
4. Kauffman, D.F., & Kiewra, K.A. (2009). What makes a matrix so effective? An empirical test of the relative benefits of signaling, extraction and localization. Journal of Instructional Science. (Published online, April, 2009).
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