Advance Organizers as a Teaching Strategy: A Reply to Barnes and Clawson

The instruction of reading comprehension

“…In addition these studies have been reviewed or synthesized on numerous occasions (e.g., Barnes & Clawson, 1975;Hartley & Davies, 1976;Lawton & Wanska, 1977;Mayer, 1979;Luiten, Ames, & Ackerson, 1979;Sledge, 1979;Moore & Readance, 1980). The trends from these syntheses have been so variable that about all one can say is that advance organizers tend, on the whole, to help readers; however, their specific effect is so sensitive to contextual factors (grade level of student, student ability, mode of presentation of organizer, amount of prior knowledge of student, and text difficulty) that few generalizations about their effect tend to hold universally.…”

A Review of Research in Revising Instructional Text

“…and presented at a higher level of abstraction" (p. 148). Barnes and Clawson (1975) reviewed 20 out of 32 studies and concluded that "advance organizers ... do not facilitate learning," but this conclusion has been criticized by Lawton and Wanska (1977) and Mayer (1979). Lawton and Wanska (1977) pointed out that, theoretically, advance organizers are only potentially effective, their effectiveness being dependent on learners' prior knowledge and concepts.…”

“…Barnes and Clawson (1975) reviewed 20 out of 32 studies and concluded that "advance organizers ... do not facilitate learning," but this conclusion has been criticized by Lawton and Wanska (1977) and Mayer (1979). Lawton and Wanska (1977) pointed out that, theoretically, advance organizers are only potentially effective, their effectiveness being dependent on learners' prior knowledge and concepts. Advance organizers, Mayer argued, are effective only when learners do not have or do not use prior knowledge subsumers: "The best test of advance organizers occurs when material is unfamiliar, technical or otherwise difficult for the learner to relate to his or her existing knowledge" (Mayer, 1979, p. 372).…”

Using Advance Organizers to Enhance Students’ Motivation in Learning Biology

“…A study by Nyabwa (2005) has demonstrated the effectiveness of using advance organizers in the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools. Their merit in facilitating meaningful learning of expository materials has been recorded by Allen (1970); Lawton & Wasnaka (1977). White and Tisher (1986) presented evidence suggesting that students who lack relevant prior knowledge are most likely to benefit from the use of advance organizers and that this may explain the contradictions among studies.…”