Differentiated effects of pre-filled-in and to-fill-in graphic organizer on primary school children’s retention of text

This study investigated the effects of different types of graphic organizers (GOs) on primary school students’ text retention performance. Seventy-two students aged 8–10 years were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a control group viewing a text only, a group viewing the same text accompanied by a pre-filled GO, and a group viewing the text accompanied by the skeleton of a GO that students were required to fill in during the session. Unlike most previous research, this study was conducted with young children in a classroom setting to ensure ecological validity. Text retention was assessed immediately and after a delay, measuring both macrostructure and microstructure retention. Data were analyzed using ANOVAs. Consistent with our hypotheses, providing a pre-filled GO led to decreased retention of microstructure information relative to the control group, indicating a detrimental effect of pre-filled GOs on this type of information. In contrast, requiring students to actively filling-in the GO significantly enhanced their retention of critical macrostructure information compared to both the control and pre-filled GO groups. No significant differences were observed in students’ perceived cognitive load. These findings support the generative learning theory, which posits that generative activities increase learner engagement and thereby improve performance.