Effects of Teacher-Constructed Pre- and Post-Graphic Organizer Instruction on Sixth-Grade Science Students’ Comprehension and Recall

This investigation compares the effectiveness of three instructional procedures for facilitating sixth graders’ comprehension and retention of science content: (a) use of teacher-constructed graphic organizers (GO) before text reading (pre-GO), (b) use of teacher-constructed graphic organizers after text reading (post-GO), and (c) use of a traditional form of instruction consisting of frequent questions and text-oriented discussion interjected before, during, and after text reading. The results indicate that all three groups were comparable on daily probe measures and an immediate posttest; however, the pre-GO group outperformed the post-GO group on a delayed posttest measure. The overall results suggest that teacher-constructed graphic organizers, whether presented prior to or following textual reading, appear no more effective than traditional instruction in increasing sixth-grade children’s comprehension and retention of science content-area information. The present findings fail to corroborate previously documented advantages of postgraphic organizer treatments and suggest the need for further analysis of dimensions that coexist and potentially coact during graphic organizer instruction.