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Graphic
organisers
Eliminating words, focusing on connections
For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.
Benjamin FRANKLIN
Why all the fuss
about graphic organisers?
Graphic organisers are a highly recommended
teaching tool in Science classes, yet many teachers
don’t exploit them to the maximum. Unlike many
rigid teaching tools that have only one application,
graphic organisers are very flexible. Their applications
are innumerable!
Simple graphic organisers can be used even with
very young learners. Here are some of the benefits
graphic organisers can bring to your CLIL classes.
➜ Help learners think clearly,
especially visual learners
A picture is worth a thousand words. When you
can clearly visualise something it’s almost like
being able to touch it physically. This transforms
learning into a personal experience.
➜ Allow lots of information
to be stored in a reduced space
Graphic organisers compress information and
allow us to represent huge amounts of data in
a limited space. Moreover, it’s like having a view
from the top. If you are looking down from a
mountain onto a vast landscape, you will see all
its features much better than if you were
standing on the ground.
➜ Connect the four language skills
If you are wondering how to integrate listening,
speaking and reading skills in your CLIL classes,
graphic organisers are the answer. They expose
your students to vocabulary and structures in
both written and oral form.
➜ Encourage students to think
about information
When speaking, students often reproduce what
they have learned by heart. When writing, they
sometimes just copy and paste. Graphic
organisers help avoid these traps as they force
students to organise their thoughts and go
beyond the obvious.
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Effective application
in the classroom
When it comes to finding ways to include graphic
organisers into our teaching, the only limit is our
own creativity. Graphic organisers can be:
• drawn on a board, on cardboard or on a sheet
of paper.
• displayed as a transparency on an overhead
projector.
• given movement via power point presentations
and digital boards.
When introducing graphic organisers for the first
time, do it gradually:
1
Remember!
Graphic organisers are an excellent revision
tool. Not only do they help organise key
concepts, they also contribute to higher
retention of new vocabulary.
Types of graphic organisers
Graphic organizers can take a variety of forms,
some of which have a specific name, depending
on what they are representing and how they will
be used. Some examples are:
➜ Network trees
MODEL THEIR USE WITH THE WHOLE CLASS.
➜
2 GO STEP BY STEP THROUGH THE PROCESS.
Network trees can be used to link information to
the student’s prior knowledge, gather and share
new concepts and relationships, show a hierarchy,
or show branching procedures.
➜
VERTEBRATES
3 EXPLAIN WHAT YOU ARE DOING AT EACH
STEP AND WHY.
MAMMALS
BIRDS
➜
4 USE THE SAME GRAPHIC ORGANISER SEVERAL
AMPHIBIANS
TIMES, INCREASING STUDENT INPUT EVERY
TIME.
Once your learners understand how to use
a specific graphic organiser, encourage its use
in individual or group tasks. After that, display
different forms of graphic organisers around
the classroom to serve as reminders.
REPTILES
FISH
• are viviparous
• drink their
mother’s milk
• have a beak
and wings
• lay eggs
• live on land
and in water
• have moist skin
• have scales
• usually lay eggs
• breathe in water
• have scales
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Graphic organisers
➜ Star diagrams
This type of graphic organiser has many advantages.
It can be used to activate your learners’ prior
knowledge, but it is also very useful for
brainstorming a topic. Students can use it to list
the main attributes related to the given concept
or topic.
If you are dealing with a story, event or a
descriptive text this is the best diagram to use.
The 5 Ws (who, when, where, what, and why) are
used to summarize the entire text and show
logical connections.
Around the world
Netherlands.
People ride bicycles in the
ng
stro
you
ps
kee
ling
Cyc
and it doesn’t pollute!
WHO?
• People in
the Netherlands.
• A Canadian
family.
WHY?
• Exercise keeps
you strong and it
does not pollute.
• It gives you
energy.
WHEN?
• Everyday (cycling).
• In the morning
AROUND
(have breakfast).
THE
WORLD
WHAT?
• They ride bicycles.
• They have a
healthy breakfast.
most
In Canada, breakfast is the
.
day
the
of
al
me
ant
ort
imp
rgy!
ene
you
s
give
A healthy breakfast
WHERE?
• In the
Netherlands.
• In Canada.
➜ Venn diagrams
Venn diagrams are particularly useful in activities
that require critical thinking skills, such as
comparing and contrasting. This type of graphic
organiser helps our learners arrange similarities
and differences visually. Similarities are recorded
in the area where the circles overlap, differences
are recorded in the outer parts of the same circles.
Amphibians
• Hatch from eggs.
• Undergo metamorphosis
into adults.
• Have moist and thin skin.
• Have to live part of life
in water.
Both
• Living beings.
• Animals.
• Vertebrates.
• Cold-blooded.
Reptiles
• Can be born or hatched.
• Come to world as small
replicas of their parents.
• Have skin covered with scales.
• Do not have to live part
of life in water.
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The water cycle
➜ Cycles
We use cycles to represent the stages of a process,
or a sequence of events which produce a set of
results with no beginning and no end.
Condensation
Evaporation
➜ Timelines
These graphic organisers teach our students how
to place events in chronological or sequential
order. Ordering events on a timeline gives learners
a sense of how much time passes between each
event. It also helps them remember when the
events happened.
Precipitation
Collection
Have a look at how you can summarise the key
points of a written text on a timeline. After that,
ask your students to insert some new inventions
and corresponding years.
ions
invent
t
n
a
t
Impor
The printing press
Johannes Gutenberg invented the
printing press in 1440. Before the
printing press was invented, not many
people knew how to read and write.
Books were very expensive. With the
printing press, books were cheaper.
1440
Printing press
1875
Telephone
1923
Television
1928
Penicillin
Penicillin
1979
In 1928 the Scottish scientist, Alexander
Fleming discovered penicillin. Before
the discovery of penicillin, people got
sick and died easily. Today we use
penicillin to cure infections.
Mobile phone
1994
Digital Camera
The telephone
In 1875 Alexander Graham Bell invented
the telephone. Before it was invented,
people had to write letters or send
telegrams to communicate with
people. With the telephone we can
communicate instantly with people
all around the world.
Classroom management tips
◗ Keep your students engaged in the lesson by
using different pictures, shapes and colours to
add more meaning to their graphic organisers.
For example, use different coloured string to
show links between words or new concepts.
◗ Explore the Net! At this link:
http://freeology.com/graphicorgs/index.php
you can find ready-made, free templates
to make many of the most common
graphic organisers.
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